Terry Bradshaw's Battle With Cancer
- Terry Bradshaw, a 74-year-old Pro Football Hall of Famer and analyst for Fox Sports, announced on Sunday that he recently battled bladder cancer and skin cancer.
- Bladder cancer develops when cells that make up the urinary bladder start to grow and eventually develop into tumors. It is highly treatable when caught in the early stages of the disease.
- Blood in the urine, or hematuria, is the most common symptom of bladder cancer, but there are other signs of the disease. One of our experts says the best way to avoid bladder cancer is to "hydrate well, don't smoke and make sure that you get in to see your physician if you have symptoms that concern you."
He shared the news on-air just one week after appearing to be out of breath during a September 25 pregame show, sparking worry from fans.
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Bradshaw continued, “Then in March, feeling good. I had a bad neck. I get an MRI. Now we find a tumor in my left neck. And it's a Merkel cell tumor, which is a rare form of skin cancer.”
He explained he underwent surgery for the type of skin cancer at M.D. Anderson in Houston, Texas.
Related: Understanding Bladder Cancer: Types and Locations of the Disease
“Folks, I may not look like my old self, but I feel like my old self,” he concluded. “I'm cancer free, I'm feeling great. And over time, I'm going to be back to where I normally am. So I appreciate your prayers and your concern.”
Following the announcement, co-host Michael Strahan admitted that he and his co-hosts were aware of what Bradshaw had been going through.
Strahan described Bradshaw as the “ultimate teammate,” adding, “you know we love you, and you hold this show together. ”
“Regardless of all that, we’re just so happy that you’re here, and we’re happy that you’re cancer-free,” Strahan added, “And I think you’re gonna give a lot of hope to a lot of people out there who are going through something very similar.”
Understanding Bladder Cancer
Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer among men, but women get the disease too. It develops when cells that make up the urinary bladder start to grow and eventually develop into tumors.
"Bladder cancer is one of those cancers that you don't hear about too often, which has always been surprising to me because it is the fifth most common cancer that we see in the American population," Dr. Jay Shah, the cancer care program leader for urologic oncology at the Stanford Cancer Center, previously told SurvivorNet. [It's worth noting that the National Cancer Institute puts it as the sixth most common type of cancer in the U.S.]
Related: I'm Finished With Bladder Cancer Treatment. How Do I Make Sure it Doesn't Come Back?
There are many factors to consider regarding your risk of developing bladder cancer. The following are some risk factors to think about:
- Smoking. Smokers are three times more likely to be diagnosed with bladder cancer than non-smokers.
- Chemical exposure. Some chemicals used in dyes, rubber, leather, printing material, textiles and paint products have been linked to risk of this disease.
- Hydration. Drinking a lot of fluids each day is associated with lower bladder cancer risks. This is partly due to the fact that people who stay well hydrated empty their bladders more often.
- Race. Caucasians are twice as likely to develop this cancer.
- Age. The risk of this disease increases as you age.
- Sex. Men are diagnosed more often than women.
- Personal history. Your risk increases if you or anyone in your family has had bladder cancer.
What Are the Risk Factors for Bladder Cancer?
Symptoms of this Disease
Bladder cancer can often be detected early because the main first sign of the disease hematuria is hard to overlook. This is great news because this cancer is highly treatable when detected early.
Hematuria means there is blood in the urine. This blood can change the urine's color to orange, pink and, in some extreme cases, dark red. Hematuria is usually the first sign of bladder cancer, but it can also occur with other health issues too.
Related: Bladder Cancer: Key Terms to Know
"That is far and away the most common presenting symptom," Dr. Arjun Balar, the director of the genitourinary medical oncology program at NYU Langone's Perlmutter Cancer Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
In the early stages of bladder cancer, when the tumor is small and cancer cells are confined to the bladder, this bleeding is typically painless. Because of this and the fact that these symptoms can be brief and irregular, some people might not seek out medical help right away. And when there's only small amounts of blood in the urine, you might not even see a noticeable change in color.
According to Dr. Balar, other bladder cancer symptoms resemble that of a urinary tract infection. He even said some patients might find out they have bladder cancer after "many courses of antibiotics to treat what was thought to be a urinary tract infection that simply did not get better."
"Early acknowledgment of symptoms, and not ignoring symptoms is probably one of the other most important things that you can do," he said.
What Are the Signs and Symptoms of Bladder Cancer?
On top of blood in the urine, other possible symptoms of this cancer can include:
- Needing to urinate more frequently than you typically would
- Feeling like you need to urinate urgently even when your bladder isn't full
- Waking up to urinate many times throughout a night
- Having trouble urinating because of pain or a burning sensation
- Frequent urination, urgent urination, and uncomfortable urination are all symptoms of bladder cancer.
Screening and Treating Bladder Cancer
There's no recommended screening for bladder cancer since screening methods have not been shown to reduce the risk of dying from the disease for people with an average level of risk. Even still, doctors may recommend screening for certain high-risk individuals. But if you want to do your best to avoid bladder cancer, Dr. Balar's advice is simple:
"Hydrate well, don't smoke and make sure that you get in to see your physician if you have symptoms that concern you."
Treatments for bladder cancer can include surgery, biological therapy, chemotherapy, and in some cases, immunotherapy. In an earlier interview, Johns Hopkins medical oncologist Dr. Jeannie Hoffman-Censits explains using immunotherapy for this type of cancer.
"Immunotherapy is a really powerful tool that we use in urothelial cancer in all different disease states. There's probably hundreds of clinical trials ongoing really, if you look at it," she says.
"So, at least for advanced urothelial cancer, the disease that I treat, the current indication for both pembrolizumab and atezolizumab is front line. If someone is not a chemotherapy candidate at all, or if a tumor biomarker shows that the tumors PD-L1 positive, it can be considered in the front line. Maintenance therapy has been FDA approved with a survival benefit," says Dr. Hoffman-Censits.
Immunotherapy is Considered a "Powerful Tool" to Treat Bladder Cancer
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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