Mike’s Story: “I have cancer—it doesn’t have me.”

Mike shares his experience with bladder cancer, from early blood in his urine to a diagnosis, repeated TURBTs and BCG treatment, and a radical cystectomy with ileal conduit. He reflects on the patience recovery demands, the support he found through BCAN, and the advice he’d give his newly diagnosed self.

In May of 2024, I was going in for pre-op physical to have my second knee replacement done. It was during that appointment that my primary told me I had a microscopic amount of blood in my urine.

I didn’t really think anything of it, because three months earlier, she told me that I was the healthiest 71-year-old they had in their entire practice. When you hear something like that, it seems unlikely that anything could be seriously wrong. So, we decided the blood must be because I was dehydrated. Looking back now, if I had been more proactive in scheduling a follow-up about this, we could have caught it a lot earlier.

Then, in December of 2024, I noticed my urine was a deep, copper shade. I assumed this was also a symptom of dehydration, so I started drinking a lot of water and in a couple of days, it seemed to clear up.

When I saw that my urine was colored copper again about a month or so later, I finally decided that something wasn’t right. I made an appointment with my primary care physician, who walked me through the possible causes of this blood in my urine. “You might have a UTI, or a bladder infection…the last thing I can think of is bladder cancer.”

I looked at her and said, “What?” I thought I must have misheard her. She told me that we should get a CAT scan done right away, so I booked one the next day. A couple of days later, I got the results.

The Phone Call That Changed Everything

I was on my way to coach volleyball practice when I got the phone call. “We’re pretty sure you’ve got a growth,” my doctor told me. “And we’re pretty sure it’s going to be cancerous.”

It hit me like a ton of bricks. I remember calling my wife, then my daughter, then arriving at practice. I went through the routine of coaching, but I was numb the entire time.

After that, I had a different urologist perform my TURBT, who confirmed there were a decent number of tumors growing in my bladder, but it wasn’t muscle invasive. He had me come back six weeks later for another TURBT, then referred me elsewhere to discuss treatment options. I met with two fantastic doctors: first, Dr. Janet Kukreja at UCHealth Anschutz, then Dr. Manojkumar Bupathi at the Rocky Mountain Cancer Center for a second opinion.

Around this time, Dr. Bupathi and Dr. Kukreja pointed me to BCAN. My daughter had already done a deep dive into BCAN’s resources, and she insisted I check them out. Reading the stories and working through resources was eye-opening, I can’t recommend BCAN to others enough.

After chatting with both doctors and doing all the research I could, I finally figured out what my best path forward was.

Fighting to Keep My Bladder

I decided to go through BCG induction, which lasted six weeks. They did another scope, saw there was still more growth, and asked me to come back again. We repeated this process multiple times over the course of a few months, and every time, the bladder tumors came back.

At this point, I was trying to see if I could get involved with one of the new studies coming out, because at the end of the day, we all want to keep our bladders, right?

After four TURBTs over the course of just a few months, Dr. Kukreja told me these tumors were way too aggressive. She said, “You can try to go through with a study, but if you were my family member, I’d tell you the best option is to get rid of your bladder.”

So, I decided to remove it and move forward with an ileal conduit.

Learning to Be Patient

I didn’t truly understand the magnitude of a radical cystectomy at first. A bladder cancer survivor I was connected to through BCAN’s Survivor 2 Survivor (S2S) program warned me that the recovery would wipe me out; that for him, it took three weeks to walk just 30 feet.

Even though that gave me a clue to how intense this was, I still thought, at worst, it’d be like one of my knee surgeries. I tried to prepare with “prehab” by doing core exercises, walking up the stairs 50 flights at a time—basically anything to get my body in the best shape I could. But no amount of exercise could have prepared me or my body for what was to come.

Those first couple days in the hospital post-radical cystectomy were rough. I told my daughter that night after the surgery, “I know this had to be done, but right now, I don’t know if it was worth it.”

I didn’t feel like eating, my system was in shock trying to figure out how to function without the organs I used to have. I was exhausted. About three weeks after the surgery, I tried going on a mile and half walk with my wife, but it was too much too soon. It was hard for me to accept that I had to wait for my body to do what I wanted it to do. I found myself desperate to perform tasks as simple as mowing the lawn, but I had to wait.

I learned that it’s important to be patient, give ourselves grace, and listen to our bodies. As an active person, that was hard to accept at first.

Now that I’m almost through with my recovery, I can say that despite my initial regret, I’m glad I went through with my radical cystectomy. I’m now cancer free.

What I Know Now

If I could give newly-diagnosed-Mike some advice, I would tell him that you can’t cross a bridge until you get there. Explore credible resources, get a good understanding of what you have—then, once you have all the information, you can start making choices for yourself.

But most of all, I’d say to just keep living. Keep doing your daily stuff, rely on others when you need to, and be grateful that you can mow the lawn.

At the end of the day, I have cancer—it doesn’t have me.