One former patient stopped in Dr. Nate Graham’s office to shake his hand and tell him how much she appreciated him, while another smiled and greeted the doctor before picking up her husband’s medical records.

Such was one of the final days of Graham’s Surgical Associates of Bradford practice before he closed his office in June for retirement after treating patients in the region for more than three decades. Graham also retired from the Pine Grove Ambulatory Surgical Center in Russell where he had moved his general and cosmetic surgery practice for same-day procedures in May of 2021.

During a break in his schedule, Graham shared highlights of a career that started out at Bradford Regional Medical Center in August of 1988 following completion of his residency at York Hospital, now known as WellSpan York Hospital. In the past 35 years, he has worked out of four different offices in Bradford while growing his practice and increasing his skills.

“When advances came for different types of surgery we would go on for training to add to the skill set we already had,” Graham said of the early practice he had shared with Dr. Walter Graves. Graham pursued training for advances in breast cancer surgery at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y., with Dr. Steve Edge as well as with specialists at York Hospital. Graham and his staff take pride in the advanced procedures for breast cancer surgery he introduced to the community through his practice.

“One of the things I was most proud of was that when I came to McKean County no one here had had less than a mastectomy for breast cancer” surgery, he remarked. “The surgeons actually had said to me, ‘You young guys don’t actually believe in lumpectomies, do you?’”

Radical surgeries, such as mastectomies, had been the approved treatment at the time. In comparison, breast-conserving surgery, such as a lumpectomy that removes the tumor and the tissue around it, was only practiced 50 percent of the time nationwide. Now, breast-conserving treatment is quite common.

“My practice in Bradford was about 70 percent breast-conserving treatment,” Graham recalled. “It’s not because I pushed it but because I gave women the option at the time, and counseled them.”

Graham said he and Graves also practiced laparoscopic surgery with their patients beginning in 1990. Laparoscopy is described as a type of surgical procedure that allows a surgeon to access the inside of the abdomen and pelvis without having to make large incisions in the skin.

“Probably the biggest change for patient recovery and quality in 35 years was the conversion to laparoscopic,” he stated.

Another notable procedure implemented locally by Graham was the colonoscopy.

“When I came here, almost all colon cancers were diagnosed at stage 4,” he said, explaining that cancer in those patients had spread to the liver, bone, lung or brain. None lived very long as no local surgeons were doing colonoscopies at that time.

“While I was brought here by Dr. (Ed) Konwinski to do the big cases, he also wanted someone with training in something he had never learned — endoscopies,” Graham said of scopes described as long, thin tubes inserted directly into the body to observe an internal organ.

“I, along with several other physicians at the time, started an aggressive program of screening scopes which grew dramatically as the insurance companies learned what we as doctors already knew. Not only did it save lives, but it cut costs of care while preventing deaths.”

He added, “Performing a colonoscopy, or having one done, may not be the most glamorous thing; but I suspect it has helped more people than anything else I have done here. Instead of finding new colon cancers every week, I, along with others doing the scopes, found and removed dozens of precancerous polyps preventing these from becoming a new cancer.”

A memorable achievement in his career occurred when Graham and Graves saved the life of local teenager Clifford Bowser who had accidentally shot himself in the abdomen with a shotgun during the 1989 hunting season. Following a rabbit hunt, Bowser and a young friend put the shotgun on Bowser’s bed, which accidentally discharged into his abdomen area. The boy’s life was saved by Graham and Graves, who both had had surgical trauma training. The extensive operation lasted six hours at Bradford Regional.

“We had just gotten paramedics in the community and they had pumped all kinds of fluid in (Bowser) to keep him alive,” Graham recalled. “It was a devastating injury … six hours of surgery, a month in the hospital and he’s still alive today,” Graham added. It was a devastating injury. It was probably the most dramatic save in my career.

Bowser’s mother was so grateful through the years that she called Graham at 6 p.m. every New Year’s Day, the time the shooting had occurred, to thank him for saving her son’s life and to share updates.

Graham helped others who included a woman who sustained severe injuries to her body and leg when her motorcycle struck a deer four to five years ago. Graham performed extensive surgery on the woman before she was transferred to a hospital in Erie.

“She was in the hospital for six weeks and another six weeks rehabilitating. She walked in here a year later to say thank you,” he commented.

In addition, a cancer patient who had extra years added to his life through Graham’s surgical skills stopped by the office to show the doctor the trophy buck he had always wanted to bag.

“One day he came whipping by here with his pick-up truck and said ‘Doc, I saw you and wanted to show you a picture,’” Graham shared. “He (had harvested) a massive 12-point. He finally got the big buck in the woods.”

Following retirement, Graham plans to remain in the community with Cindy, his wife of 35 years, who retired from her career as a social worker as well as working in her husband’s front office.

Graham’s office staff, Betty Holmes and Mary Tingley, plan to retire, while Rachel Harten, physician assistant, is now a professor for St. Bonaventure University’s physician assistant program. Steph Butler, licensed practical nurse, will work for the Bradford Area School District as well as at the Bradford Ecumenical Home.

The Grahams have two grown children, Brandon, a geologist who earned his Ph.D and lives in Bradford with his wife and two small children, and Erin, a seventh-grade teacher who lives in Carlisle and is married with two small children.

Graham plans to continue on with amateur radio, hunting and model warship combat, pastimes he has enjoyed through the years.

He plans to keep up with his surgical license, and expects to help Hannah Punk, a nurse anesthetist and cosmetic injector, at the Allegheny Beauty business in Kane, as needed.