‘I thought I had a UTI – it turned out to be bladder cancer’

Retired IT consultant David Day, 70, from Cambridgeshire, was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2013 after spotting symptoms

“It was just days after seeing an NHS campaign on the TV about checking your urine for blood that I experienced exactly those symptoms. I rang the GP immediately.

“At that time I thought it was a UTI – urinary tract infection – not cancer. But thank goodness for that TV campaign because, to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have taken it as seriously otherwise.

“The GP did a quick dip test and referred me to the urology department of Addenbrooke’s Hospital. I had a cystoscopy – a camera into the bladder – and they noticed a tumour there. I was awake, watching the procedure on the TV screen, and saw what looked like a long-legged mushroom.

“I said: ‘What’s that?’

The consultant replied, ‘We’ll talk about that in a minute,’ and they went to get my wife Christine from the waiting room.

“The consultant then announced: ‘You’ve got bladder cancer.’ That was a bit of a shock.

“Then they asked, ‘Do you smoke?’ I told them: ‘I used to, but I stopped in 2000,’ and they replied: ‘That’s why you’ve got bladder cancer.’ That was the bit I couldn’t get my head around. I hadn’t smoked for 14 years – why would it cause cancer after all this time?

“But I didn’t think I was going to die, because it was just this little mushroom – not like the big black blobs you see on people’s lungs on TV. In fact, Christine and I were quite blasé about it – I don’t think I was taking it in.”

“I was referred to the oncology department, who admitted me fairly quickly to have the tumour removed in early 2014. I was lucky: mine was not muscle invasive – it was all in the bladder and hadn’t gone through the wall. I’d had scans to see if the cancer had spread and they came back clear.

“The consultant told me: ‘We’ve caught it early enough.’ It was high grade but wasn’t invasive, which was a big plus.

“After the tumour was removed, I had to have 27 doses of BCG jabs – the same as the vaccine you have at school. Unfortunately, the next set of treat ment really took its toll and it got to the point where I couldn’t do my job anymore because it was hard to travel.

“Slowly but surely, I started to get back to a normal life and now I don’t have issues with my bladder.

“I was lucky that it was caught early, and the urology and oncology depart ments were abso lutely amazing. I’m still in contact with the nurse who gave me all those injections.

“I still look when I go to the toilet, and whenever I get a slight pain, I worry the cancer is back.

“I have an annual cystoscopy and you get a big lump of joy in your throat when they tell you it’s clear. The next one coming up is my 10th and it should be the last. I’ll be over the moon when they say they don’t need

to see me again.”

I hadn’t smoked in 14 years – why would it cause cancer?

CAUGHT EARLY David is looking forward to finally getting the all-clear