Bladder Cancer Survivor

Colleen Schramm was diagnosed with non-muscle invasive high-grade bladder cancer in 2022

"I was diagnosed with bladder cancer at 36 years old. I was seven months postpartum with my third child. Toward the end of my pregnancy, I had some blood in my urine. My doctors and I presumed this to be associated with cervical change as I neared my delivery date. One day, I decided to do a few crunches after I ran and then went to the bathroom and saw bright red blood in my urine.

“My CT scan showed I had at least four or five tumors in my bladder, one of which was four centimeters. The doctor called me and said, ‘This is really unusual.’ She was able to quickly schedule a cystoscopy. [During a transurethral resection of a bladder tumor (TURBT)], my doctor said she removed everything she could, but there was a good amount of tumor in there. I had a radical cystectomy [but] they found a lesion on the outside of my bladder. My staging chest CT also showed two small lung lesions later confirmed as lung metastasis. I now receive a targeted therapy drug, and I am doing very well.

“I would tell other bladder cancer patients that it’s okay to be sad and to spend time mourning your diagnosis. Two things can be true, you can mourn, and find joy, every day. I told myself, ‘Okay, I’m going to live in the moment the best that I can and I’m not going to let this stop me,’ and honestly, my kids and nieces and nephews keep me going.”