SEATTLE — Ex-Navy Petty Officer Eric Powell has received mostly bad news since discovering he had terminal cancer 16 months ago. But thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Powell had a very good day Monday, as the charity known for San Francisco’s Batkid adventure helped Powell achieve his dream of getting any attention at all from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“All I really wanted was to talk to a live person, instead of endless menus and ‘hang up and try again later’ messages,” Powell said. “Well, Make-a-Wish accomplished that, and a whole lot more!” he added, with a gigantic smile.

Powell, 26, of Port Angeles,Wash., was diagnosed in mid-2014 with an aggressive form of thyroid cancer. He worked on nuclear reactors on Navy ships and is believed to have exceeded his Roentgen exposure after participating in the US response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan.

“We normally only work with children,” said Make-A-Wish spokesman Charlie Herndon. “But Eric’s faith that the country he served so nobly would not ignore or betray him was so childlike in its naivete that we decided we could make an exception.”