 That year, while at sea, Selby Jr. was diagnosed with advanced tuberculosis ("TB") due to the cows on board, which had bovine tuberculosis; doctors predicted that he would live less than a year .He was taken off the ship in Bremen, Germany, and sent back to the United States.For the next three and a half years, Selby was in and out of the U.S. Public Health Hospital (part of a system of hospitals originally established to care for merchant seamen) in New York for treatment.