Retired firefighter Captain Tony Stefani started with the San Francisco Fire Department in 1974. The 28-year veteran retired as the Captain of Rescue 1 in 2003. After being diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma in 2001, he founded the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation and now serves as its President. Read More

Ron with his wife. I was diagnosed on August 31, 2010. I had biopsy surgery on September 17, 2010 and a cancerous tumor was discovered and removed. On October 29, 2010 (five days after my 61st birthday), I had a radical cystectomy and neobladder surgery. I was able to… Read More

New Hampshire native, Anne Theriault now lives in Maryland. Anne spent many years in non-traditional careers with the US Army and in the Bureau of Prisons. She deployed four times to combat zones. Anne began taking up ballroom dancing after a challenging combat tour in Iraq. “I just did it… Read More

Bladder cancer can be a sneaky disease. Sometimes you have very few symptoms until things hit a critical mass.  For me, that happened in the form of a suspected urinary tract infection (UTI). I’ve had UTI’s my whole adult life, so the latest one in summer of 2012 didn’t seem… Read More

2016 was the scariest year of my life. I urinated blood around Christmas in 2015, and a CAT scan in February 2016 found a tumor.  I had a cystectomy on April 1 and the results were determined to be an aggressive cancer. Next, was another cystectomy which saved me from… Read More

In December 2001, my life changed when I was diagnosed with bladder cancer.  In the summer of 2001, I noticed urinary changes that I attributed to turning 48 years old.  Continency and frequency became issues and my urine turned cloudy with a tinge of darkish red from time to time. … Read More

BCAN asked Dr. Andrea Apolo, Chief of the Bladder Cancer Section of the Genitourinary Malignancies Branch of the National Cancer Institute, what researchers learn from bladder cancer patients who do not survive in a clinical trial. This is what she shared with us: Mr. Read More

Like others, I had symptoms without a bladder cancer diagnosis for some time – urgency and frequency for eighteen months.  I had discussed both with my physician after about nine months. He said that I was getting old (I was only 48!) and my father had prostate cancer.  Knowing that I… Read More