 I'm Dr. Thomas Bauer. I'm chair of surgery at Jersey Shore University Medical Center and the chief of thoracic surgery. When you understand why you do what you do, it makes whatever you're doing much easier. As a child, I watched my father be a surgeon. I saw the difference that he made in people's lives and we'd be walking through the mall and somebody would come up to me and say, do you know what your dad did? He saved my life. When I was confirmed in church, I knew at that time that my calling was to be a surgeon to take care of the sick and the dying and to make them better and to relieve suffering. When I looked at where I thought I could make my greatest impact, it was helping people with cancer and very difficult problems in the chest and thus specializing in thoracic oncology. I have in fact really made a difference in thousands of people's lives and that sum total I think is exceedingly rewarding. The fact that I get to do that every day is incredible. It is a blessing to make a difference. I think everyone wants to make a difference in wherever they are but to be able to make a difference every day in people's lives and to receive the thank yous or the hugs afterwards, there's nothing that compares to that.