Valet became key source of support for cancer patients at New York care center: ‘He made an impact’

Kate Fink is a breast cancer survivor. It’s a success she attributes, in large part, to the most unlikely people who work at her Buffalo, New York, care center: the hospital valet.

“Absolutely, I mean he had an impact,” Fink, 41, told CBS News of the valet. “Not just me, but so many other people.”

The person Fink speaks so highly of is Jon Avery, who parks cars at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“There’s always an exception to the rule, right?” Avery said. “So I’m one of the exceptions.”

He does his job with such joy, such contagious optimism, that without the wheelchairs you would never know that some of these people were sick. He is just a beacon of hope in the dark storm of their diagnoses.

He says his goal when interacting with patients is to “have a meaningful encounter that isn’t hollow.”

Avery kept telling Fink, day after day, to keep pushing, saying, “You got this.”

And after a while, she believed it.

“Yeah, it’s just your mindset that changes,” Fink said.

Fink said she was so grateful for Avery’s kindness and support that she “wanted to do something nice for him.”

At one point, Avery had mentioned to Fink that he was saving money because he really wanted to go to a Buffalo Bills game. It was just a passing comment, but one that Fink couldn’t let pass.

So last month, she and her co-workers at West Herr Automotive Group raised money, made calls and secured Avery tickets and passes to a Bills game.

Avery was beyond grateful, but he said the gesture was hardly necessary.

“I serve people, that’s what I do,” Avery said. “And if I have nothing else in the world that can mean anything to anyone, I know I can live in service.”