May is Bladder Cancer Awareness month and Villager Richard Ruben wants to help spread the word.
He was diagnosed three years ago.
“I had never even heard of bladder cancer,” he said.
During a routine physical exam back in his home state of Maryland, the doctor did not like the cloudiness of Ruben’s urine sample and sent it to be tested. He had three tumors in his bladder.
Ruben says he had no idea anything was wrong, he felt fine. An operation cleared the tumors and then he went three 18 months of BCG treatments which involves injecting liquid tuberculosis into the bladder. Ruben was given the all clear last year. But as with any cancer he is still checked regularly.
His wife Bobbi was a great support during this time, but he also credits the on-line support he received from the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network.
“They were a God send. I was able to communicate with patients across the country.”
The website, www.bcan.org is full of information including webinars and also offers full support systems. Ruben now works as a mentor with this organization. Newly diagnosed patients are paired up with people who have already gone through the experience. The network pairs people whose diagnoses are similar. Currently this support is all on-line; Ruben looks forward to starting a local support group when he is a fulltime Villages resident.
From his cancer experience Ruben says he has learned “to be very pro-active in my own healthcare. I read a lot of different articles.” He also advises, “Please be aware and educate yourself. Early detection is the key to beating this cancer that a lot of people are unaware of.”
According to the BCAN website Bladder Cancer is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer in the US. There will be an estimated 76,900 newly diagnosed cases in 2016. Bladder cancer It is the fourth most common cancer among men; it is three times more common in men than women.
