Stories

In August of 2004 I had a routine appointment with my pulmonologist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) during the 4th quarter of a 20-year “smoker study.”  The day before, when I saw blood in my urine and the local urologist couldn’t see me for five weeks. … Read More

It was summer of 2018, one night in late July, about two o’clock in the morning. I woke up with this horrific pain in my back on my right side, but I did not think too much of it. Maybe I slept wrong. So, I turned over hoping it would… Read More

Carlos and his wife, Angie, on vacation in British Columbia. It was in the fall of 2016 when I noticed that sometimes my urine would have a slight discoloration. It was very subtle, just a light pink tinge that would only happen occasionally. I really did not think anything of… Read More

Glenn H., his wife and his mother, who also had bladder cancer. In the summer of 2009, I began having trouble urinating and voiding. At the time I was 54 and thought “Well, maybe it’s the prostate or something,” but it eventually went away. My family and I took a… Read More

This article is for those who are about to embark on this journey, or those working with patients dealing with bladder cancer. Why read it? Simple. Knowledge is power. In this case, knowing what may lie ahead when your body has become the home for cancer cells is important. Hopefully,… Read More

My dad, Simon Lowy, was born July 3, 1929, in the Bronx, NY, to Helen and David Lowy. He had one brother. My dad played ball on the streets—stick ball—they used the sewer tops as the bases. My dad had many friends growing up. Wendy Sloane and her dad, Simon… Read More

A very happy Annmarie with her grandson I am a schoolteacher at a high school in Mashpee, Massachusetts. I started to have symptoms in May 2018. I was at school and I got a sharp pain in my kidney area and I thought, “Oh, kidney stones.” I knew something wasn’t… Read More

This story has been provided by Bill Seavey.  It has been edited for brevity. How does an active tennis playing and hiking/biking early 70 year old white male–who never had any bad health habits–get diagnosed with a particularly virulent form of cancer about which medical professionals can’t very often definitively… Read More

I am a nephrologist and have been practicing medicine since 1976, so I look at my bladder cancer journey somewhat differently than others might.  I was having some difficulty urinating and in the process of having my prostate looked at, my doctor came out afterwards and said, “Oh, by the… Read More