Eye on Health: Williston Mayor - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Eye on Health: Williston Mayor

In the past few years, Williston has struggled to deal with the fast growing oil industry.  
At the same time, the Mayor of Williston has been dealing with struggles of his own.  
In this week's Eye on Health, Carla Burbidge tells us how he survived cancer and then complications that followed.  

Mayor Ward Koeser is on T-V almost on a regular basis.  
He has lead the city of Williston for many years, and ever since the oil boom took off, he is constantly on the go.  
On Valentines Day in 2011, Williston Mayor Ward Koeser had a routine medical check-up, and it changed his life.  
Doctors found prostate cancer, which led to surgery at the Mayo Clinic, two months later.  
That was followed by 39 radiation treatments at Mercy Hospital in Williston.
(Mayor Ward Koeser, City of Williston) "The staff was great, and they say I am cancer free."
However, this is not the end of Ward's story.  
A nerve was damaged during surgery, and that caused him chronic pain - - pain that continued for 19 months.  
(Mayor Ward Koeser, City of Williston) "There were days I just wanted to stay in bed, but I wasn't able to do that."
Ward persevered - he didn't miss very many commission meetings, ground breakings or ribbon cuttings.
Ward,  who's known for his positive outlook, says it was hard to be positive, when the pain continued for so long.  
It wasn't until recently that Ward started feeling better.
(Mayor Ward Koeser, City of Williston) "I think maybe it was better that I was busy, my wife and I are finally walking again, I'm getting back to a routine."
Ward didn't talk much about the ordeal while it was happening.
And yet he got a lot of support from family and friends, and even people he didn't know.
(Mayor Ward Koeser, City of Williston) "People would stop by on the street and say they were praying for me."
It worked, he is cancer free, and now pain free, and ready to charge back into the work of running one of the fastest growing cities in the nation.  
For Eye on Health I'm Carla Burbidge.