Three Cancers, Zero Quit: Lisa Savage’s Fearless Journey

December 4, 2025

Transcript

Voice over:

This is Bladder Cancer Matters, the podcast for bladder cancer patients, caregivers, advocates, and medical and research professionals. It’s brought to you by the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, otherwise known as BCAN. BCAN works to increase public awareness about bladder cancer, advances bladder cancer research, and provides educational and support services for bladder cancer patients and their loved ones. To learn more, please visit B-C-A-A.org.

Rick Bangs:

Hi, I’m Rick Bangs, the host of Bladder Cancer Matters, a podcast for, by and about the bladder cancer community. I’m also a survivor of muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The proud owner of a 2006 model year neobladder and a patient advocate supporting cancer research at the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, or as many call it BCAN, produces this podcast. I’m pleased to welcome today’s guest, Lisa Savage. Lisa is a survivor of three cancers, including bladder cancer. She has 25 years in sales for a pharmaceutical company, and she lives in upstate New York. Lisa, thanks for joining our podcast today.

Lisa Savage:

Hi, Rick. Thank you so much for inviting me on. I appreciate it.

Rick Bangs:

This is going to be fun. So you’ve had some, I would say, incredible twists and turns getting to a bladder cancer diagnosis and the subsequent treatment and even beyond that. But I want to start with your first cancer diagnosis, which was not bladder cancer, but was melanoma. So how did you get diagnosed there and what was your treatment?

Lisa Savage:

Yeah. Sure. Yeah, it’s definitely been a journey. So in 2017, my husband noticed a very small dark mole on my left shoulder, and he noticed it looked different. He had never seen it before, and of course said, “You need to get that checked,” and of course I didn’t. Right. And about a month passed by and he said, “You really need to get that check.” And so literally, Rick, to just get him off my back of continuing to ask me, I said, “I better get in and just check this.” Now, the reason I was so hesitant to do it is I’m Hispanic and so my thought process was I’ve been in the sun my whole life, I grew up in Puerto Rico. There’s no way that’s anything other than just another mole of a million moles that I have.

Rick Bangs:

Right. And you’re not blonde and blue eyes.

Lisa Savage:

Correct. No. Not at all. Dark hair, dark eyes, dark skin. And so I did go in and the nurse looked at it with her little magnifying glass and she thought it looked fine, but because of my husband’s insistence, I said, “You know what? Why don’t you just go ahead and just scrape it off because I’m not going to hear the end of it.” And so she did. Yeah. Exactly. And so she did, and the next day or two she called and she was very nervous because obviously she had said I don’t think you need to remove it. I don’t think it’s anything. And sure enough, she said, “It’s melanoma.” She goes, “It does not look like it’s burrowed into your skin.” Because with melanoma it has these tentacles. But I did need to go in and I did need to have it surgically removed. And with melanoma, if you have a small mole, if no one knows, they really need to do a very large excision. So on my left shoulder, I have a pretty big … Like an indent. From some angles. It looks like I have a nice shoulder muscle there, but it’s actually an indent from where they had to go in and really, really excise all of that melanoma.

Rick Bangs:

Right. Because of the tentacles and they want to make sure that the border that they cut out is far enough away from any tentacles.

Lisa Savage:

Yes. Exactly right. Correct. So that was my first diagnosis. So that was in 2017. But prior to that, when you and I had talked about this in 2016, I had started getting some microscopic hematuria in my urine. So that was blood in my urine. So this was happening during that process.

Rick Bangs:

Oh my gosh. Okay. So you had the surgical removal of the melanoma. Did you have any treatments beyond the surgery? Not that that’s enough.

Lisa Savage:

No. No treatments. They diagnosis … And I could be saying this incorrectly, but they diagnosed it as in situ, I believe, which meant they couldn’t even stage it. It was so early on. So honestly, I have my husband to thank for that because it literally just looked like another normal mole. So I could have really been in big trouble with that.

Rick Bangs:

Wow. Okay. So I want to go back to the blood in your urine, which is microscopic. So you’re not seeing anything, but it’s microscopic. It’s there. Not incredibly rare, but it always needs some investigation. So in your case, as I understand it, you saw several different clinicians and you got different theories along the way about what was going on. So tell me about that.

Lisa Savage:

Yeah. So like you said, I dealt with the melanoma. That was very emotional early stage, but it was still extremely emotional to hear the word cancer. So then I had had several urinalysis and they came back abnormal. So I originally went to my OBGYN just for my yearly checkup. She asked me to come back 30 days later, same thing, abnormal. She sent me to a urogynecologist, abnormal, again, another urinalysis. And they started to think that I had what was called interstitial cystitis. I just went with that. Initially they did say maybe you have bladder cancer, maybe you have interstitial cystitis. But at that point, they just decided and honestly don’t know for what reason to just say it’s interstitial cystitis. So I had treatments for interstitial cystitis over a period of months, and nothing was really making me feel any better. So then eventually I went to a urologist who thought that I had kidney stones, and so I thought, okay, maybe this entire time I’ve just been dealing with kidney stones. I’d never had a kidney stone before, but I knew that they were very painful. Went, he thought that I had passed the kidney stone. He did a cystoscopy early on. I believe that’s what it’s called, cystoscopy. And he just thought, okay, I think you’ve passed it.

Right after that, I was participating in the Mrs. New York America pageant, and I remember being backstage and having to go to the bathroom, and I literally could not urinate. I just could not urinate without pushing. And for the females out there that are listening, it was almost pushing like I was in labor and just blood clots would just come out the size of a baseball. Just huge. So I knew something was wrong, and I remembered right before I went on stage when I was going to be asked my question on stage, I noticed a lot of girls were getting very nervous, and one girl looked at me and she goes, “Aren’t you nervous?” And I remember thinking, “No. I’m not. Because something’s wrong with me. And I need to get past my question and I need to just figure out what’s happening.” Because it was so stressful to realize … This had been going on for a while. The difficulty in urinating and having these blood clots had been going on at that point for a while. And this was pretty severe that night.

Rick Bangs:

This is 2018. So you’ve been having the microscopic hematuria and now blood clots for what, 18 months?

Lisa Savage:

Since 2016, so about 18 months. So the pageant was in March of 2018. I finished that pageant, ended up top three contestants. I was very proud of that. And the universe works in such an amazing way. I always think back that had I won that pageant … And at that pageant I was advocating for melanoma. That was my platform. I had worked with a lot of local schools to really introduce kids of Hispanic and African-American backgrounds to the dangers of melanoma. Because as a Hispanic woman, I had never realized how prevalent it could be in our communities. So I just thought had I won that pageant, I couldn’t have done anything with it because I was then going to have to be dealing with trying to save my life. So shortly after the pageant, again, I remember maybe three days later having to again urinate and not being able to, and it being so bad … It didn’t matter how hard I pushed that my husband took me to the emergency room, and that’s when they found … When you go to the emergency room in any state, it’s just horrible to have to sit there and wait. And I waited for hours. They did try to push me through, but they eventually said, “Okay. We see a mass. There’s a mass that’s pushing against your ureter.” And so that was the beginning, truly, of the journey.

And after that initial night there, which I really didn’t get many answers because I remember the next day leaving and actually working out and not being super concerned. I thought, okay, it’s not cancer. I just didn’t even think that. I then went back to the urologist and he quickly just realized … He did a cystoscopy. He was in and out, and he looked at me and he said, “I’m going to backdoor you to see a surgeon that I know because you need to see the surgeon to remove this.” And I knew then something was not good.

Rick Bangs:

I just want to be clear. So that’s not the first cystoscopy you’ve had?

Lisa Savage:

No. That was not the first cystoscopy. So I had had one prior with the urogyne office and it was there, they just didn’t see it. They just didn’t see it.

Rick Bangs:

Wow.

Lisa Savage:

Yeah.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. All right. So you get diagnosed with bladder cancer. So what stage in grade and what were your options? What was presented?

Lisa Savage:

Sure. So I was diagnosed initially with stage three high grade urothelial carcinoma, which was obviously bladder cancer. So it was muscle invasive, so it was a stage three muscle invasive bladder cancer. Originally I was given two options. To step back for a minute, working in the pharmaceutical industry, I have met a lot of people over the last 25 years. And so I knew an individual who worked for a medical company who actually graded surgeons. And so he put me in touch with a surgeon at Roswell, which is in Buffalo an hour away from Rochester, and he was very well known for doing bladder removals robotically. And so we went there and we just hit it off with him. I was only 50 years old at the time, and it’s very unlike a 50-year-old female to get bladder cancer. So he just took over, got me in. And when we knew that bladder needs to be removed, it has to go. He originally gave me two options. So the first option was a neobladder, the second option was the urostomy bag. As I was sitting there talking to my husband, I just thought to myself, well, I think I’m just going to go with the urostomy bag. I remember just thinking, I’m not sure about the … And I’m going to say the word wrong, but catheterizing myself. Is that correct?

Rick Bangs:

Yes.

Lisa Savage:

Am I saying that correctly?

Rick Bangs:

Yes. Self catheterization. Yes.

Lisa Savage:

Self catheterization.

Rick Bangs:

None of us looks forward to this one.

Lisa Savage:

Exactly. So as I recall, the conversation was you’re probably going to initially have to do this eight or nine times daily. And I thought to myself, I’m not sure that I can do that and live … Initially right. In time, I guess it would be getting better. But I decided right then and there, I’m just going to go with the urostomy bag. Well, as fate would have it, he was out out of the room as we were deciding, and he came back and he goes, “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. You actually only have one option. You do not have an option to get a neobladder.” My only option was actually the option I had chosen, which was the urostomy bag. So again, it’s interesting how my mind had already gone there Because I think had I chosen the other option and then not been able to choose it, eventually it could have been even more devastating for me.

Rick Bangs:

Sure.

Lisa Savage:

So that was the option I went with.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. So the plot thickens even more because interwoven with this bladder cancer diagnosis and treatment is a third cancer, and I can’t even imagine this has to be incredibly overwhelming. So what was that third cancer and what was your experience there?

Lisa Savage:

Sure. So during this time, of course, I did the bladder removal. I had four treatments of what they call MVAC, which is extremely strong chemotherapy, and I lost my hair I think in three days. During this time, my husband was extremely proactive. I honestly don’t think I could have even done it without him because there was so many times when I literally didn’t feel like I could function going into the hospital. We would go in and I would have to run to the bathroom and just … Just my anxiety and my fear of what was happening to me or what the outcome could be made me so ill, I had to go to the bathroom and throw up. And so he was really leading a lot of these conversations. So he decided we’re going to go to Sloan Kettering and we’re going to get a second opinion.

And so we had looked into Sloan Kettering. And I knew that Dr. Rosenberg, which is one of the oncologists in the bladder cancer unit there, had done a lot of early clinical work with bladder cancer. I got in with another doctor who was amazing. His name was Gopa Iyre, and he looked at all of my scans, had the radiologists look at them, and they said, “Well, we found another cancer in your duodenum, which is called the GIST, and that stands for gastrointestinal stromal tumor.” It was very slow growing, which is I guess why every other radiologist missed it. And so he said, “We’re going to keep an eye on this. I’m not extremely concerned, but it has slightly grown since your very first scan in 2018.”

So this was about not even a year later. So we tabled that. So the melanoma had occurred, took care of that, bladder cancer was the big devil on the table, and the GIST, we were tabling to just keep an eye on it and see what we would do. They didn’t want to remove it because I was still going through treatment. They wanted to make sure that they just kept an eye on it.

Rick Bangs:

Wow.

Lisa Savage:

It was a lot.

Rick Bangs:

Yeah.

Lisa Savage:

Three cancers. I think if I think back on my life, I grew up in the early ’70s, ’80s and I remember people being diagnosed with cancer. It was always this big secret. “Oh my gosh, that person has cancer.” And it was like, did you even go up to them? Did you even acknowledge that they have cancer? Did you even offer to help them? And so growing up in my vision of my life, it was never that I was going to have cancer. I was healthy. I’m fit. I’m active. Never in a million years did I think one cancer, let alone three cancers.

Rick Bangs:

Right. Right. Okay. So let’s come back to that. So I think many of our listeners would recognize that three cancers might indicate there’s a genetic problem, and if they don’t, they now are aware of that. So the obvious question is, does Lisa go for genetic counseling and if she does, what’s that experience like?

Lisa Savage:

Sure. So I was part of a small group of people that they had studied. I forget the study that it was on that they were just following. And because of that, they had offered me to see if I wanted to get this genetic testing. Of course, I said yes. I was very concerned. I have one daughter, and she was in fifth grade at the time. And so I said, “Yes, I definitely want to do this.” So I went in, I got the genetic testing, and it was negative for any hereditary cancer gene. There was just nothing that resulted that said, “You have a genetic component that makes you predisposed to having cancer.” There was just nothing there. So I honestly don’t know what to make of it.

With bladder cancer, they did ask me early on … And I’ll say, this is an area that I really struggled with. They said, “Are you a smoker?” And I said, “No, I’m not a smoker. I work out all the time.” Well, in my 20s, I was a social smoker. Of course, they prodded and they asked and I said, “Well, I was a social smoker. When I went out, I’d smoke.” And so they did attribute that social smoking to potentially having a component in bladder cancer, which is insane because I know people who smoke two, three packs of cigarettes still to this day, even with all the information, we know and nothing wrong with them. And here I was, you go out in your early 20s you’re in college, you’re social smoking, or you’re having a drink or two, and you never think that that could potentially harm you all the years later. And could it have? I don’t know. I’m only going by them asking me if I ever smoked. And I did. So I can’t be a hundred percent confident that that was the dynamic that played into my diagnosis. But another reason why we should all try to stay as healthy as possible.

Rick Bangs:

Right. And if you’ve got some symptom that doesn’t make sense, keep pushing to try to get a diagnosis.

Lisa Savage:

Yeah. I think, Rick, that’s a good point that you just made. I’m a pretty vocal person and I say it how I see it, but even with the knowledge I have and having worked in the pharmaceutical industry for all these years, I still then, not now, but then when they said, “Oh no, we don’t think it’s bladder cancer,” I think I had such a relief that I didn’t want to push. And so it just really shows you that you or someone, a spouse, a family member, really, really has to advocate to not take someone’s word just as that you really have to research. Here’s the thing too, I remember this was seven and a half years ago. I don’t believe we had MyChart. So I didn’t really look at or see, oh, abnormal urinalysis, abnormal urinalysis. There was 13 that were abnormal urinalysis. Now the minute I get anything done, I’m on there researching on MyChart. And I think that’s a good way.

Rick Bangs:

So for our listeners who don’t have something called MyChart, it’s an electronic health record. And as Lisa points out, you can see your test results sometimes before the doctors get them or have reviewed them. I think everybody gets them the same time, your appointments, all that sort of thing. So most medical places would have an equivalent to that.

Lisa Savage:

Absolutely. Yeah. And I think it’s good. It’s good for patients to be able to see those things and have a family member look at them if they don’t understand it. You have a lot of older patients too that are just afraid. We were always taught, a doctor’s always going to know what’s best for you. And especially older patients tend to not push a doctor if they think something’s wrong but I’m here to tell you, listen to your gut, look at your results, advocate for yourself or a family member because it could make the difference in saving your life.

Rick Bangs:

Yeah. And as I’ve said before, I’ve never met anyone who regretted getting a second opinion.

Lisa Savage:

Never.

Rick Bangs:

So I think it’s always worth pursuing.

Lisa Savage:

Yeah.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. So at the time of our diagnoses, we all have this big question about who do I tell? How do I tell them? So what did you decide relative to that, and what was the underlying thought?

Lisa Savage:

So when I was first diagnosed, I think I was just in shock and I was just trying to make it day by day. And I recall I would look at my husband … So let me back up. You initially are told you have this horrible cancer, and then we need to wait to see what it is we’re going to do. And so early on, I would look at my husband laying in bed probably 25 times in a night, and I would say, “Do you think I’m going to be okay?” And he would look at me and goes, “You’re going to be okay.” And I’d say, “Are you sure? Do you really think I’m going to be okay?” And he would look at me stone-cold with the utmost confidence and say, “You are going to be okay.” I promise you that him just being there, whether that was going to be true or not, gave me the fight to pick myself up mentally because it’s a mental fight, but it’s a physical fight too. There’s two fights going on. That gave me the strength because he was so strong to really fight myself. So to answer your question, once I knew what the game plan was, which was remove my bladder … Well, first it was actually the chemotherapy for treatments, which did not touch the tumor. Then it was remove the bladder, then it was metastasis to the lung, and then it was immunotherapy.

But the minute I knew what the plan was, I just was very vocal about it. I didn’t even think for a minute. Oh my gosh, we can’t tell anybody. As I recall, I think I put it on social media, and at that point it was still stage three. And I believe, if I recall correctly, the survival rate for stage three was about 44%. And I thought, surely I am one of those 44%. And so I think that’s what I had put on my social media. And that’s when people became aware. And it really, for me, was the right thing to do. I never realized how many people struggle in silence, and everyone has to choose whether or not they want to share their story or who or how they want to share that story.

Rick Bangs:

Yeah. And when.

Lisa Savage:

And when. For me it was just who I was, I guess. There wasn’t like, “Oh, I’m going to do this and this is a result I expect.” It was just a very genuine move on my part, just something that I put out there. And in turn, what happened was I met so many other people who had either gone through bladder cancer or were going through bladder cancer, or someone who … For example, I had a girlfriend who was an attorney, and she went in for a facial, and the facialist was very distraught, and she said, “Well, what’s wrong?” She says, “My mother was just diagnosed with bladder cancer.” She said, “Oh my goodness. I have someone that you can speak to.” To this day, this woman and I still connect. Before she went in to have her bladder removed, she contacted me and she was so happy to have someone to lean on who had gone through the same experience. That made me feel empowered because I didn’t have that experience. I didn’t know anybody who had bladder cancer. I had known people distantly who had cancer, but I didn’t know anyone who had gone through bladder cancer.

And the removal of your bladder is an extremely intense surgery, and you’re in the hospital for about a week. I ended up being there about 10 days. And it’s intense. Your whole body’s bloated afterwards. You’re extremely uncomfortable. And so I was able to give her this encouragement that in turn made me feel that I was really making a difference in someone else’s life. I was empowering them and paying it forward so that they could then feel, you know what? If Lisa can do this? I can do this. And what I love about this too is that this woman and I still connect. She calls me before every scan. She’s living her best life right now. She travels everywhere, and she always thanks.

And there’s another couple that I had sat in with where the husband had bladder cancer. And I actually … This is funny. I actually purposefully, whenever I would mentor people who had bladder cancer or help them, I would always wear form-fitting clothing. If the listeners don’t know, your ostomy bag is slightly larger than your hand with your fingers outstretched. And so I asked the wife, “Do you mind if I show you and your husband what the bag looks like?” And I showed them. And maybe months after he had the surgery, I met with the wife for coffee and she thanked me. She said, “You really were able to help us see the light at the end of the tunnel.” And so it’s those stories, Rick, and those things that meant a lot to me, made me feel that this diagnosis for me was not going to be in vain. That I was going to try to make a difference somehow. And again, it wasn’t anything that I thought, “Oh, I have bladder cancer. Now I’m going to make a difference.” It was just the natural way of just I think who I am. Just genuinely, I just was pushed in that direction. I just felt that that was the right thing to do, and I know that I’ve made a difference in other people’s lives, and that makes me feel that this diagnosis was not in vain.

Rick Bangs:

It’s a great story. And so this whole thing about paying it forward, I want to touch on that a little bit more. You work for a pharmaceutical company, and as you’ve pointed out, you wanted to be an advocate. So talk about some of these other opportunities you’ve had and what you learned.

Lisa Savage:

I had originally been asked by the woman who had originally shown me all my options for my urostomy bag if I wanted to come in and help patients who were also going through that process. And so early on, I did that, and it’s overwhelming. You’re there and you’re giving all these different options of urostomy bags. And which ones should you use? Should it be pre-cuts? Should you go with this brand or that brand? And there’s probably six, seven bags that you’re looking at, and they bring them out and they give you a brief overview of each bag.

And so I was HIPAA-certified, and I remember the doctor would leave, and then I would come in and I would say, “Okay. Let’s take a deep breath.” And that was another instance where I would just show the patient my bag. And a lot of times with a urostomy bag, there’s a night bag that people use at night. For me, I did that early on, but I found it to be very limiting for me. I found it uncomfortable. I found that I was bothered by using it. Again, everyone is different. Some people may love it. And so I would let people know that … I was, at that point, I don’t know, 52. Now I’m 58. But at that point I was about 52, and I’m like, “I naturally get up 10 times a night, so I am going to get up and I’m just going to empty the bag as if I were just going to the bathroom in the middle of the night like normal people do.” So I gave that advice and just I felt like really helped people to feel, okay, here’s a person who’s actually showing me what this bag looks like, and she’s gone through this.

So yeah, I worked with our local hospital, Strong Hospital for several years. Volunteering in that capacity didn’t really work for me. As much as I loved helping the patients there, I felt like I almost had a form of PTSD walking into the hospital as much as I was.

Rick Bangs:

Yep. Because it’s bringing back memories.

Lisa Savage:

So many memories. And I would get overwhelmed because I could see. The eyes are the windows to the soul, and I could just see what people were going through. There were so many beautiful stories that I could share with you today of different people. But there was one particular young man who just refused, refused to change his bag. He did not want to look at his … It’s your intestine that is coming out of your stoma. It’s an intestine that comes out of your body that attaches to the bag, and that is where your urine comes out of. He could just not deal with it. It was so many stories, and it was very overwhelming for me mentally in that capacity that I realized I think I can advocate in other ways where it’s not just bringing back this trauma for me. Because again, I know everybody has their journey, and hopefully we can all get to that place of acceptance and understanding of what our diagnosis is.

But it was very difficult for me to see the path because some people, I could speak to them and share my journey in that hospital setting, but it was still so early on for them. That feeling … If you recall it early in the podcast, I said I could barely function. My husband had to do most of everything for me during my doctor visits. These were the people that I was speaking to, and I knew that it was going to take time for them to cross that bridge and realize, okay, what do I do now and how do I do this? And so I just chose to be more vocal in my social media. I would post pictures early on with my bald head working out. I think at the time, I’m five seven, 130 pounds. At the time, I weighed probably 106 pounds. I was very, very thin. But I’d post pictures working out. I was very vocal that I had a urostomy bag, that I had the surgery. The funny thing, Rick, is I had a friend over, and we were in our pool several years ago, and she looked at me and she goes, “Oh, did you have the bag reversed? Did they reverse that?” And I go, “What are you talking about? That’s not reversible.” She goes, “Oh my gosh, I can’t even tell.”

So I’m big on continuing to dress the way I dressed. There are some modifications that I make. For example, for any female or male listeners, but for the female listeners, sometimes I tend to wear dresses that have a little ruching in the front, so I feel if I have a little bit of urine buildup, it’s not as noticeable right away. I wear high-waisted jeans, which thank God they are in style and will stay in style for a long time to come. But I just make a point of trying to live my life the same way that I did before.

Rick Bangs:

Which is a wonderful goal.

Lisa Savage:

Yes.

Rick Bangs:

All right. So the twists and turn in your story have not ended.

Lisa Savage:

No.

Rick Bangs:

And so the big reveal here is your father-in-law was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. How did you leverage your experience to help him?

Lisa Savage:

Sure. So my father-in-law was, when we say recently, it was literally about two weeks ago. And so he got the diagnosis, he’s had a PET scan. He had the TERT procedure to remove the tumor. And right now they’re just in the sit and wait phase. Where I think I’ve helped him the most is really by extension my mother-in-law. He’s 78, she’s I think 75, and so does not understand a lot of the medical jargon that’s out there. And so I think just sharing my experience with her has given her peace of mind. Right now, they’re just waiting to see what next steps are. They don’t know the staging yet. They’re waiting for the PET scan results. So literally, this was just a couple of weeks ago.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. Well, we’re wishing for the best here.

Lisa Savage:

I did want to mention one thing, Rick. You asked me about how I’ve advocated, and if we have a minute, I’d like to share one other area.

Rick Bangs:

Sure.

Lisa Savage:

I work, as you know, for a pharmaceutical company, and I was asked sometime … Or it was in March. And I was asked late February, I think if I would come on stage and speak about a word that was impactful to me. Well, the funny thing is I thought, “Well, they’re certainly not calling. They’re not asking me. They must have the wrong Lisa.” That was my initial thought.

Rick Bangs:

Not based on my conversation with you but go on.

Lisa Savage:

I said, “They must have the wrong Lisa. He must have meant to send this to another Lisa at the company.” So it was my area vice president. And I replied right back thinking he was going to say, “Oh, I’m so sorry. Wrong Lisa.” But I said, “Yes, I’m happy to do that.” And he said, “We’d love to have you and some other individuals on stage for about a minute.” And I replied, “I’m not sure if I can speak for a minute, but I’ll do my best.” And so I quickly knew … I remember reading this in a parking lot, and I thought, I know exactly what my word is. And now my word was intentional. And the plan was that I was to go on stage. Three people were chosen at our national sales meeting. There was about 500 people. Go on stage, and they wanted everybody in the company to pick a word that they were going to attach themselves to that year to really drive them.

So I knew my word was intentional, but because not only do I lead intentionally with my work, but I knew that I led intentionally with my diagnosis. And so they just asked me for a brief one line, and I thought, oh gosh, there’s just no way I can speak just one line. And when we did our prep, I went up and they said, “Well, we have your line on the teleprompter.” And I said, “Oh, no, that’s okay. I don’t need the teleprompter.” And so I grabbed the microphone and I spoke about how I was intentional in my sales career. And then I turned around and I thought, this is either going to go or it’s not going to go. They’re going to either say they nope, scratch or keep. And so then I took a shot and I said, “As some of you may know or may not know, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer and I was given 12 to 14 months to live.” And so I spoke about how I was intentional with my diagnosis and maintaining an attitude that kept me focused on positivity. It was a great opportunity for me to advocate. When I was done with the prop, they said, “Keep it. Great. We love it.”

And then here’s what you would never think would happen with a bladder cancer patient, but happened. So 20 minutes before, I’m to go on stage. So picture a big room, 500 people. There’s about nine or 10 people in round each roundtable. I’m at the front with my team, everybody else’s, with their team spread out in this big, big area. I looked down, my urostomy bag broke. And so I’m looking down and I have urine all over my pants. And I had my company’s briefcase with me. And I quickly thought, “Okay. I don’t have much time. What do I do?” So I’m glad I’m a quick processor because I looked at my director, I grabbed his arm and I now know that he thought I was panicking because I was about to go on stage in front of 500 people for the first time ever. And I looked to him and I said, “I have to leave for a minute.” He goes, “Are you okay?” I go, “Yes.” I got up. I walked over and I said, “I’m fine. My urostomy bag broke, but I need to go and change.”

And so I grabbed the briefcase, covered the front of myself, my pants walked to the elevator. Thank God, in this particular national sales meeting, the elevators were right there, and I could get right to my room very quickly. Quickly dressed changed, clean myself up, put a different pair of pants on, came down, probably had, I don’t know, minutes to spare to get on stage. I looked down at my sneakers, I had a pair of sneakers on, and my area, vice president says, “And now we have another guest speaker,” and he announces me. And I took a deep breath and I talked about what we just discussed.

And so not too many people know that that happened prior to me going on stage. But I knew how important that opportunity was for me. I was very honored to be called from just a sales perspective, working for a pharmaceutical company, getting on stage and speaking about something, but that I was given the opportunity to then pivot and speak about something that was very personal, which I then realized impacted so many people. And so after I did my presentation, we had a long break. And Rick, I cannot tell you the amount of people who came up to me and just shared openly their different stories, whether it was a father who had Alzheimer’s or a young female who wanted to remove her breast implants because she thought she was having some sort of inflammatory response, a young kid who really felt that he didn’t know if he belonged working there because he was so young. These stories, because it wasn’t just the cancer. It was overcoming something-

Rick Bangs:

And being intentional.

Lisa Savage:

And being intentional. And then them realizing here’s a person who was given 12 to 14 months to live and is here performing, is speaking on stage, and if she can do it, I can overcome the fears that I feel about whatever it is I feel right now. It didn’t have to be the bladder cancer. And so I really felt that that was a pivotal moment where I realized … And I had inherently felt this all along. People are inspired by challenges, by someone who can rise up when everything is in your face, and you think, certainly that person should crumble. And so it’s like the story of you coming up from the ashes and building up. And it meant everything for me that I had that opportunity. And so I was so grateful that it impacted people in that way.

Rick Bangs:

Wow. So your story has just got so many aspects to it. Wonderful. Wonderful. Okay. Any final thoughts?

Lisa Savage:

Really, thank you. I would say thank you again. This is another amazing opportunity for me to really share my story with your listeners and really just share with people that you’re not alone. There’s a network here to help you. The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network is here to help so many people. We all have a story, a journey. We’re all faced with challenges. I’m grateful that you’ve had me on here today to share my journey, and hopefully my story has helped some of your listeners today. I hope that they’re encouraged.

Rick Bangs:

I am sure they will be. So Lisa, I want to thank you for sharing your experience with bladder and two other cancers, what you learned along the way, and how to give back.

Lisa Savage:

Thank you.

Rick Bangs:

If you’d like more information on bladder cancer, please visit the BCAN website, www.bcan.org. In case people wanted to get in touch with you, could you share some contact information?

Lisa Savage:

Sure. I can be found on social media at Fabulously Fit 50s. I also need to change that when I turn 60, but it is at Fabulously Fit 50s. And that’s on Instagram.

Rick Bangs:

And that’s-

Lisa Savage:

Instagram. Yes.

Rick Bangs:

Instagram.

Lisa Savage:

Yes.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. All right. So make sure you’re looking on Instagram. Just a reminder, if you’d more information about bladder cancer, you can contact the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network at 1-888-901-2226. That’s all the time we have today. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to this podcast so we have your feedback. Thank you for listening, and we’ll be back soon with another interesting episode of Bladder Cancer Matters. Thanks again, Lisa.

Lisa Savage:

Thanks, Rick.

Voice over:

Thank you for listening to Bladder Cancer Matters, a podcast by the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, or BCAN. BCAN works to increase public awareness about bladder cancer, advanced bladder cancer research, and provide educational and support services for bladder cancer patients. For more information about this podcast and additional information about bladder cancer, please visit bcan.org.