The intention of last month's (May) Bladder Cancer Awareness Month was to alert people all over the world of the prevalence of bladder cancer in our communities, and steps that can be taken to promote early detection (observation and testing of blood in the urine).

Many Australians are generally unaware of how widespread bladder cancer is in Australia and the extensive and expensive treatments that may be necessary if not detected early.

Here are a few facts provided by the Australian Government:

• Bladder cancer is the 11th most common cause of death from cancer in Australia

• More than 3,000 people were newly diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2022 (3219 total)

• Three times more men than women were diagnosed (2470 males and 749 females)

• There were over 1,000 deaths in 2022 (1073 total - 774 males, 299 females)

• There is an approximately 1 in 2 chance of surviving bladder cancer for 5 years (56% in 2014-2018)

• There are most likely about 10,000 Australians currently living with bladder cancer (at the end of 2017 there were 8,371 and the numbers are increasing).

• Unlike for most cancers, the survival rates for bladder cancer are not improving.

Bladder Cancer Statistics in Australia, Cancer Australia, Australian Government. www.canceraustralia.gov.au/cancer-types/bladder-cancer/bladder-cancer-statistics-australia

Thanks to support from Astellas, a Japanese-based global pharmaceutical company, we were able to feature short and snappy community service announcements in Cantonese, Punjabi and English for Bladder Cancer Awareness Month on SBS.

The ads were designed to increase the awareness of bladder cancer and the importance of early detection amongst the community. Identifying blood in the urine and seeking speedy medical attention is the most significant way to detect bladder cancer early.

During May we received over 250,000 impressions for our six ads on SBS and SBS-On-Demand, in addition to the free community service announcements SBS ran across the station.

The English ads are on our home page: www.bladdercancer.org.au

If you would like Cantonese or Punjabi ads to circulate in community groups, please email us: contact@PROTECTED

Oscar Larrainzar is the world's first bladder cancer patient who has received a replacement bladder. This ground-breaking surgery was conducted by a pair of surgeons, Dr Inderbir Gill and Dr Nina Nassiri from Southern California, USA, in March this year.

Bladder transplant surgery has considerable challenges because of the complex vascular infrastructure that is involved. The surgeons faced the challenge of needing to capture and preserve a rich supply of blood vessels, joining both left and right arteries and veins, which entailed a lengthy and technically precise operation.

In Mr Larrainzar's case, this took eight hours (and included a new kidney). Comparatively, bladder removal where the bladder is cut out and replaced by an ileal conduit (bag outside the body) may take as little as an hour. Bladder removal and replacement with a neobladder (pouch inside the body typically created from the small intestine) takes somewhat longer. As experienced by many, these procedures can have ongoing complications.

Bladder transplants are also not without their own complications. In particular, the body may reject the organ. The patient may also experience adverse side effects from the mandatory immune-suppressing drugs which are given to prevent organ rejection. However, so far so good with Mr Larrainzar!

Doctors Gill and Nassiri soon intend to perform four more bladder transplants as part of a clinical trial to become more informed on bladder capacity and graft complications before pursuing a larger clinical trial. This medical breakthrough is welcome news for the next generation of bladder cancer patients.

(Adapted from The New York Times, 18/05/2025)

In the May Bladder Cancer Awareness Month special edition of the newsletter we featured a self-care checklist and this month we're recommending how you might support family, friends and community members who have been diagnosed and are being treated for bladder cancer. Providing support in tangible ways helps others get through the difficult trials of bladder cancer.

If you want any other resources about bladder cancer they can be found under the RESOURCES tab at the top of our home page: https://www.bladdercancer.org.au/

Geoff Goodfellow, one of our BladderCancer.org.au community members from Semaphore in South Australia, has once again put pen to paper to share his current experience with bladder cancer with us. We wish Geoff all the best, as we do all other members of our community who are battling this disease.

Some of our fellow Australians who are undergoing treatment for bladder cancer are struggling financially to keep themselves afloat. Extensive and expensive ongoing treatment is often required when bladder cancer is not caught early. This is why our charity, BladderCancer.org.au, focuses on patient literature and raising awareness among the community and health professionals of the importance of early detection.

All of our work is 100% voluntary and any money we raise goes into producing community service announcements like the ones on SBS this month and the development, updating and distribution of our resources (see our recent updates to our Patient Guide and Procedure Guides here). If you have anything to spare in your finances this year, a tax deductable donation would be most welcome.