COLONIE – Paul Burgdorf and his wife, Jane, recently celebrated their 44th wedding anniversary. He’s not so sure he would have reached either milestone if not for the colonoscopy he underwent earlier this year.

“The surgeon called me back and said, ‘Paul, I got great news for you and not-so-great news for you,'” Burgdorf recalled.

The great news, if you can call it that, was that his colon cancer hadn’t metastasized. The not-so-great news was that an aortic aneurysm was detected.

“You sit back, and you say maybe my warranty is up, maybe my horizon on this planet is not as long as I would like it to be,” Burgdorf recalled thinking at the time of his diagnosis.

Walking his dog Monday afternoon, around the cul-de-sac near his Colonie home, Burgdorf reiterated not just his own determination to fight, but also his determination to make sure everyone else realizes the importance of preventative health care.

He’s undergone several surgeries, along with chemotherapy. He says he’s on the road to recovery.

He’s also sharing his medical journey on social media. Among the hundreds of comments on his Facebook page are these:

“So very sorry to hear, Paul. Hope recovery continues and your message (is) heard far and wide.”

“Onward and upward, Paul.”

“Paul, that’s quite a story. Many lessons to be learned from it. I’ve got my colonoscopy in a couple of weeks.”

“You’re a great champion for practicing preventive health. I applaud you for sharing your personal experience. It is a brave and selfless act.”

“My message is this,” Burgdorf said, “Do your recommended medical screening and make sure that everyone that you love and care about does the same thing because heaven forbid they could be someone like me who was walking around with two death sentences, which has been averted, because of a routine medical colonoscopy.”

Burgdorf has two months of chemotherapy remaining, at which time he should find out for sure if his medical journey will reach the destination sought by all cancer patients: remission.