Seafarer Gerard Costello had more than enough to worry about beginning in 2002 when he was diagnosed with a rare and most serious form of cancer.
Through that struggle, he not only appreciated the treatment afforded him through the Seafarers Health and Benefits Plan (SHBP), he drew strength and comfort from it.Lately, the news couldn’t be much better for Costello, who sails as an AB. During the January membership meeting in Piney Point, Md., he announced that his cancer is in remission— and also showed that he hasn’t lost his sense of humor.
“Initially I was given three months to live,” Costello, 44, said at the meeting. “My wife and children are grateful now, to some degree.”
Following the meeting, and also in a recent letter to SIU President Michael Sacco, Costello recalled that he has suffered through treatments for eight tumors. “I only have one left, but this time they’re calling it stable,” he said. “It’s been almost a year since I’ve grown another tumor. They had been coming every three months, like clockwork.”
While not minimizing his struggle, Costello was liberal with his praise for the SHBP and the union. “The mental and physical hardships that accompany such treatments for cancer have put a strain on my family for over four years,” he said. “The benefits and support I have received from the Seafarers Health and Benefits Plan and the unwavering support from the Baltimore hall have been immeasurable in their level of professionalism in any and all situations and areas of concern.
“As for the medical plan, the SIU alone has provided the absolute highest level of medical expertise in the field of cancer,” continued Costello, who joined the union in 1997 after previously sailing as a CIVMAR with the U.S. Military Sealift Command. “I have survived in large part by taking comfort in the fact that the medical plan provided the best of a knowledgeable and skilled team of doctors. For the services and support afforded me by the outstanding staff of our medical plan, and by my Port Agent Dennis Metz and the staff of the Baltimore hall whose care and assistance to both myself and my family have been invaluable throughout this extreme time of distress, I cannot thank them enough.”
Costello concluded with a word of credit for SIU President Sacco: “Your tireless efforts to secure the best possible medical care for the membership of our great union—in a time of health insurance crisis in America—is indeed a testament to your leadership and care for this organization and its members. As I write you this letter, I am continually improving…. I will forever be indebted and grateful…. this organization saved my life.”
This isn’t the first time Costello faced a life-and-death struggle. During the mid-1980s, while working as a CIVMAR, he was washed overboard approximately 500 miles north of the Azores. He survived even though it was mid-December and the water “was kind of chilly,” Costello recalled.
“He is an inspiration,” Metz said. “When he walks into the union hall, he always has a smile on his face. Even when he was given three months to live, you wouldn’t have known it.”
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