{"id":7815,"date":"2025-08-18T14:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T14:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7815"},"modified":"2025-08-18T14:30:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T14:30:00","slug":"colorectal-cancer-didnt-stop-this-veteran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7815","title":{"rendered":"Colorectal cancer didn\u2019t stop this Veteran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 2025-08-18T14:30:00+00:00. Historical source article: benefits, rules, amounts and deadlines may have changed. Check the official source for current information.<\/p>\n

Sam Stornelli first served in the Navy and later became an officer in the Army. His service included participation in Desert Storm and deployments to the North Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Stornelli\u2019s life took an unexpected turn when he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer<\/a> at the age of 41. At first, he sought treatment outside of VA, but the high costs of cancer care led him to seek care at the Bay Pines VA Medical Center<\/a>, where he completed his treatment.<\/p>\n

Stornelli had previously used VA to manage his diabetes and hypertension, and he trusted the quality of care he received there. \u201cNothing scared me more than being told I had cancer,\u201d he recalled. \u201cSo many things are running through your head. But sitting down to talk to someone to help you understand, and then you know that treatment will be quality treatment.\u201d For Stornelli, that personal connection with was Dr. Dalia Mobarek, an oncologist at the Washington D.C. VA Medical Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The journey<\/h2>\n

Dr. Mobarek was his oncologist throughout his journey and ensured specialties such as dermatology, gastroenterology, surgery, radiology and immunology were engaged and consulted for Stornelli\u2019s care plan. When a bowel obstruction sent Stornelli to the emergency department, physicians identified a recurrence of his cancer after a challenging, hours-long biopsy.<\/p>\n

With the unwavering support of his care team, Stornelli faced each new challenge with determination. This support helped him recover enough to attend his daughter\u2019s wedding in 2022 and welcome his first grandchild in 2025, all while remaining cancer-free.<\/p>\n

Stornelli emphasized the importance of VA\u2019s support system for Veterans, noting that VA physicians are familiar with the unique needs of Veterans. \u201cWhen people talk smack about VA, you [know they have] obviously never been there,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never encountered one provider or doctor that was bad. There\u2019s going to be variation, but everyone is committed to what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

For his fellow Veterans, Stornelli has one piece of advice: \u201cRegardless of the outcome, I knew it was going to be a fight no matter what. I knew that the VA doctors would be with me every step of the way, so I\u2019d tell other Veterans to trust your VA doctors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about VA cancer care<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs<\/a>. Its Veterans is an independent publication and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Army and Navy Veteran Sam Stornelli turned to VA for his colorectal cancer care and with the support of a dedicated care team over the past 10 years, has reached major milestones with his family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-veterans-health-care"],"yoast_head":"\nColorectal cancer didn\u2019t stop this Veteran - Its Veterans<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Army and Navy Veteran Sam Stornelli turned to VA for his colorectal cancer care and with the support of a dedicated care team over the past 10 years, has reached major milestones with his family.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7815\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorectal cancer didn\u2019t stop this Veteran - Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Army and Navy Veteran Sam Stornelli turned to VA for his colorectal cancer care and with the support of a dedicated care team over the past 10 years, has reached major milestones with his family.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/itsveterans.com\/?p=7815\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Its Veterans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-18T14:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7815#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7815\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4bf835f8c5375ef33978f3169f311668\"},\"headline\":\"Colorectal cancer didn\u2019t stop this Veteran\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-18T14:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7815\"},\"wordCount\":428,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7815#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/vet-456-86.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health & Care\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7815\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/itsveterans.com\\\/?p=7815\",\"name\":\"Colorectal cancer didn\u2019t stop this Veteran - 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