St. Joseph man commends Veterans Affairs for support through medical issues
By Leah Rainwater
One St. Joseph man is sharing how the Veterans Affairs clinic has impacted his medical journey.
“We moved to St. Joe about 18 years ago,” said Jack Hager, a Vietnam veteran and Christian worker. “I was in the VA system in New York, where we lived prior, just for physicals, etc.”
Hager said a visit to the VA clinic in St. Joseph for a physical in 2023, turned into a cancer diagnosis.
“I had the physical, they said everything is fine,” said Hager. “Two weeks later, they called and said, ‘You need to get to the ER now.’ That got my attention and they said I was basically in stage four kidney disease … but as a result of that, they discovered that I have multiple myeloma, which was a bone cancer thing I’d never heard of before either.”
Hager said he goes to a few different VA offices in Northwest Missouri and Leavenworth, Kansas.
“They tell me it’s 1% of all cancers, and I’ve always been an overachiever, so for the 1%,” said Hager. “First they sent me to Leavenworth for the kidney doctor. The kidney doctor, through that procedure, discovered the myeloma. So I went to Kansas City and they started treating it. All three of those places have been stellar.”
Hager said the pain isn’t what affected him the most after his diagnosis.
“When I got the diagnosis, I had to cancel six weeks of camp that I was scheduled to speak at,” said Hager. “I had to quit going into prisons. I do prison ministry, and a typical week, I would be in one prison or another three times a week, and now I haven’t been behind the walls for two years.”
Despite the outcome of his diagnosis, Hager continues to commend the VA hospitals and clinics for their wonderful service.
“No. 1, the face to face … No. 2, the communication from them,” said Hager. “I think just, very efficient, friendly, professional without being obnoxious. And it’s not just here and there. It’s everybody, and it’s from probably the lowest person on the totem pole, so to speak, to the highest.”
Hager expanded into the cause of his multiple myeloma diagnosis and found that it was likely due to his time in the military.
“Agent Orange, whether I was exposed to Agent Orange when I was in ‘Nam, whether it actually caused it, I don’t know,” said Hager. “Maybe two years ago, they passed an act that basically, if you looks at a list, I think every form of cancer, high blood pressure, everything else is on that list. If you had boots on the ground in Vietnam and you get one of these, they’re going to help you.”
The VA clinic in St. Joseph will be closed the week of Dec. 9 as it moves into a new space, which was announced in January of this year.
