WINDSOR, Colo. -- One year after a devastating F-3 tornado, the small northern Colorado town of Windsor has almost rebuilt entirely.

The tornado destroyed so much, but it didn't destroy the determination or resolve of the community.

Nowhere is that determination more recognizable than in Luke and Lisa Burton. The tornado demolished the couple's graphic design, silk screen and embroidery sign shop, but it did not crush their spirits. And after much rebuilding and a strange twist of fate, the couple is now praising the tornado for possibly saving Luke's life.

The first thing you notice about Luke is his voice.

"If I talk a lot, I'll get a little light headed," said Luke through a soft, hoarse yell.

It didn't always sound this way. His story begins the day the F-3 tornado tore through Windsor.

"We didn't think that it was a tornado, it was so wide," he said.

"I just remember it was a very weird day. The air was really humid and thick," said Lisa.

But just in case, Luke and his employees decided to lock up and head to his friend's mom's basement just a few blocks away for shelter.

"Driving there was kind of scary because it was hailing and (my friend's) windshield started to crack," said Luke.

Luke and his employees were spared, but the sign shop he owns with his wife, Lisa, called Huston Graphics, was gone.

Ironically, Lisa works at State Farm's regional headquarters in West Greeley, where she snapped a photo of the tornado as it approached her office.

"It got really loud," said Lisa. "To me, it looked like a really big wall of rain. And it turned out to be the tornado."

Both Luke and Lisa survived, and over the past year, they've been operating Huston Graphics out of a small building a few blocks from their old shop.

With construction on their new building coming along, life and work seemed to be falling back into place for the Burtons.

"We both said, 'If we can get through this tornado, we can get through anything,'" said Lisa. Turns out -- they would need that strength sooner than later.

"Basically, I was loading shirts and thought that the press was paused," said Luke. "We were using one of the presses that we've had to replace due to the tornado. I thought the machine was paused. I stepped in and then it cycled and then it wedged me."

Luke was pinned. Another employee quickly reached to turn the machine off. But the damage was done.

"It just smashed me," said Luke. "It was like getting hit playing football in high school. Just knocked the wind out of me."

With a healthy stubborn streak, and despite Lisa's repeated requests -- Luke refused to see a doctor, until he could wait no longer.

"I started to get these really bad night sweats, which was weird," said Luke.

"The night sweats that wouldn't go away," said Lisa.

Luke finally went to urgent care. He had a chest X-ray and a computerized tomography -- the news was instantly alarming.

"They told me that they had found something in between my lungs and my heart. (The nurse) came out and said, 'There's something in your chest. You need to go to the hospital right now,'" said Luke.

Lisa rushed home from a trip on the Western Slope.

"We'd already had our drama for the year," said Lisa.

Luke was admitted immediately.

"The doctor said that 99 times out of 100 when somebody comes to him with the symptoms I had, it's Germ Cell cancer, similar to what Lance Armstrong had," said Luke.

The diagnosis: probably cancer, maybe worse.

"The only thing that I could compare it to was like the day of the tornado," said Luke.

If it was Germ Cell cancer, doctors would treat it vigorously with chemotherapy and possibly radiation. It was curable. If it wasn't cancer, doctors would have to cut through Luke's sternum and remove the fist-sized tumor -- a dangerous procedure.

"It's almost like you had to hope that you did have cancer, which was a little hard to get on board with," said Luke.

"There were some dark days in the hospital," said Lisa.

Doctors finally determined it was not cancer, but a rare benign tumor.

"It was about a four-and-a-half-hour surgery. Not a good wait. It was hard -- really, really hard," said Lisa.

The surgeon pulled out a tumor the size of an orange. And had it gone undetected -- if Luke hadn't been crushed by the new printing press -- the tumor could have grown into his aorta and caused him to bleed to death.

"It's just really good that we caught it when we did," said Luke.

"It's been the most challenging year that we've ever had," said Lisa.

Remarkably, just a month post-surgery, Luke is doing fine.

"It's been a great outcome, compared to what we could be dealing with," said Luke.

The only side effect -- you may have guessed -- the tumor was wrapped around the nerve to a vocal chord.

"And that's why I have the 'Godfather' voice right now," he said.

"Which you kind of like?" asked 7NEWS reporter Russell Haythorn.

"Yeah, it's not bad. Call up customers, and they're a little more anxious to pay their bill now," said Luke.

If adversity builds character, Luke and Lisa are chock-full of it. They're a resilient couple slightly conflicted over whether the tornado was a blessing or a curse, but thankful for what they do have nonetheless.

"I don't know if I say blessed, but I'd say everything happens for a reason, even devastating things in your life," said Lisa. "We're very fortunate that the tornado set into motion the events that led us to today."

Luke and Lisa say, if the tornado had not hit and destroyed their shop, forcing them to buy a new printing press which malfunctioned and pinned Luke, he would have never gone to see a doctor and discovered a large tumor he didn't even know he had.

"I guess it makes the tornado a little bittersweet," said Luke. "It makes you just appreciate everything in your life, your friends and your family."

As for Luke's health today, the surgeon has said the margins around the aorta were thin, but clear.

Through another surgery, doctors should be able to stitch his vocal chords together, which -- in theory -- should strengthen his voice.

The tumor was rare. The Mayo Clinic had seen only 15 cases the last 25 years. There's a 10 percent chance it will grow back, but radiation might help decrease that percentage.

The Burtons plan to move into their new building in a few days.