Daniel’s Story: “Be your own advocate and be an advocate for others.”

In the summer of 2023, Daniel Gereg began experiencing unexpected health issues. Occasional nausea quickly escalated to persistent vomiting, prompting a visit to the emergency room. The medical team managed to stabilize his condition, but concerns about his overall health remained. A CT scan revealed something concerning in the bladder, and what followed was a journey that would change his life forever. Read Daniel’s story here:

In July 2023, I started experiencing some health issues. I was getting nauseous occasionally which accelerated to vomiting. When it didn’t stop, I took a trip to the emergency room. The attending nurses and physicians were able to get my sickness under control, and I was admitted for observation.

My blood sugar was high, around 300. I was also having digestive issues. My blood work numbers were all over the charts. It was no surprise really. I had been ignoring my health for many years.

The emergency room physician was concerned with the duration of my vomiting. He wanted to make sure I didn’t tear anything in the process, so he ordered a CT scan.

When I was discharged, they told me about my various issues, which included possible diabetes, gastrointestinal ailments, and overall terrible health.

A grape-sized spot was found in my bladder. The hospital staff recommended a few doctors and I had to follow up on this one. Possibly cancer? I couldn’t understand what was happening. My endocrinologist didn’t seem overly alarmed. My average blood sugar was 150 and I was already dieting and exercising. My blood tests, as they pertained to diabetes, were relatively normal. My two-liter-a-day soda pop habit had to change.

I made an appointment with a reputable urologist and saw him within a month. I felt as if that was too long, but I waited. I didn’t feel like I had a disease yet. By pure chance, my wife and I had already begun our weight loss journey a few months before the emergency room visit. The situation further solidified our need as a couple to make a permanent lifestyle change. We got a gym membership and started learning how to eat all over again. We began drinking only water and detoxifying our bodies.

My first urologist appointment was scary. I felt lost, like a child in an unfamiliar place. My doctor looked at my CT scan and explained that he was fairly sure we were looking at bladder cancer. He ordered a cystoscopy, a camera up the urethra, to be 100% positive and move forward. I was starting to learn the cancer process. Step by step and then wait.

It was cancer. Somehow, I already knew. The surgery was scheduled within two weeks.

Everything slowed down. I was moving in slow motion. I heard cancer stories my whole life and they never turned out well. My father died of stage four colon cancer two years prior. I thought I was history. I cried a lot. I said goodbye to people and gave away personal things. It was terrible and totally life changing for me. Surgery day finally came. I had taken one last camping trip in September, then returned home to face my fears.

The TURBT (trans urethral resection of bladder tumor) surgery seemed to go well, but when I was in outpatient recovery, I got violently ill. I had severe abdominal pain and vomiting just like before. My doctor was surprised and admitted me overnight due to the state I was in.

The next day I felt better and was ready to do my healing at home. I left with a catheter and a stent that I had to keep around for a while. I was to return in about six weeks for another procedure to remove the stent. I was back in the hospital within three days because of further vomiting.

Before my doctor performed the surgery, he said I could have a tumor removal or possibly removal of my entire bladder. I ended up keeping my bladder for the time being. I’m very lucky.

Looking back, the pain and vomiting were possibly diverticulitis. The jury is still out. It further exemplified the dire need to change my health and lifestyle. I was convinced at the time it was pain from my bladder. My doctors were baffled as was I.

Time went on and I slowly healed. In about a month, I was back at the gym doing light workouts. In two months, on Christmas Eve 2023 to be exact, I felt well enough to increase the intensity of my exercise.

In June 2024, I lost 60 pounds since my cancer diagnosis. I regularly run 5ks and continue to improve my health exponentially. I no longer have high blood sugar. Good health is the way we personally fight cancer without the help of medicine, specifically exercise and whole foods. We have to do our part in the fight.

My mantra is to the tune of, “Without cancer, I wouldn’t have changed my life.” This phrase puzzles even me sometimes, but I was 48 when I received my diagnosis, and I had done nothing prior to make a real and positive change in my life, mentally or physically.

Cancer was my electric shock. I feel very lucky. I have a network of friends with this disease as well, and many of them have a much more dire prognosis than I did.

I recall that after one of many CT scans, I noticed a small line of text that the technician who read my scan put in. He said that I had a “stable plural nodule” on my left lower lung, approximately five millimeters in size.

My urologist made note of this. He was concerned that the lung nodule could’ve been a result of muscle invasive or metastatic bladder cancer. We wouldn’t know until the biopsy came back from the surgery, so more waiting. Once again, if you have cancer get used to that.

In a few weeks, the biopsy came in and it was non-muscle invasive urothelial papillary carcinoma. It was settled only on the innermost skin layer of my bladder and had not spread to the rest of my organs. When I received my first CT scan at the urologist, they found one tumor in my bladder, and another one in the pleural nodule on my left lung. The lung tumor was highly concerning to my urologist until the biopsy from my bladder came back non-muscle invasive. Only then did he know for sure that the bladder cancer did not cause the lung nodule. He then put my lung nodule under “surveillance.” It has not grown or spread. I went to a pulmonologist to investigate further. I had another CT scan. He said that it was likely a benign lymph node, but could be a type of spore or fungus that is naturally in the air and settles in the lung.

When my cancer was diagnosed, after all the waiting, it became time to ensure the cancer didn’t return. In my extensive research, the best therapy for my cancer was BCG immunotherapy. Luckily, my body is reacting to it positively. This therapy should last about three years under the supervision and advice of my doctor. I am currently in year one.

It’s not too bad. I do have an allergic reaction in my whole body at times with an itchy and scratchy throat, but it is tolerable and preferable to chemotherapy. It is a small price to pay to decrease my chances of future tumors.

I continue to have regular cystoscopies, CT scans, blood work, and cancer surveillance. I’m coming up on my second round of immunotherapy in a few weeks. None of it is pleasant and I could do without it to be perfectly honest.

When I first learned of my cancer, it was very confusing. I got pretty depressed. We were always researching things, trying to decipher this new normal. My wife works at home, and we pass a lot of information around. She was trying to get involved, cheer me up, further solidify our relationship, something along those lines. We have been married 27 years and we understand each other well. She came across the Columbus Walk to End Bladder Cancer many months before it started, signed us up, and passed the info on to me. Then it went on the back burner. I checked out the BCAN website a few times but to be honest, it wasn’t the time for me and BCAN quite yet. I went through my surgery, countless hours of research, exercised, started a cover rock and roll band, and beat cancer. 

Then came the Columbus Bladder Cancer Walk in 2024. By then my attitude had completely changed. I became passionate about cancer advocacy work, and BCAN has continued to be a vehicle for that passion. I’ve completed the training for the Survivor to Survivor (S2S) program and am excited for my first call! BCAN’s employees have been spot-on, and I love working with all of them. I spend time with this organization every day. It continues to provide opportunities. 

I’ve been the BCAN person of the month, and now some of my material is being edited and published. This is unreal and everything I hoped it would be. Cancer certainly ended up being a powerful motivator. I suppose I could have gone either way with it. I’m glad I chose life.

Since these are the cards I’ve been dealt, I have decided to use my experience to help others. It’s been the single most life changing event I’ve experienced. I see the world with a different set of eyes now. Colors are brighter and smells are sweeter. Be your own advocate and be an advocate for others.