When Gerald Hollowey Jr., a 26-year Navy veteran, noticed blood in his urine, it led him to seek medical care and ask questions he hadn’t known to ask before.
“It actually was on a Friday. It was at work during a production meeting, and I had to use the restroom. When I went to the restroom, I noticed blood. I had a hard time urinating, and when I finally did, a blood clot came out, and it was dark red,” Hollowey Jr. tells BlackDoctor.
Frightened, he went straight to the emergency room. “They told me that I had a tumor, and it could possibly be cancer,” he recalls.
Following his emergency room visit, Hollowey Jr. sought further evaluation. “I gave my primary care doctor the paperwork and told him I needed to go to Urology of Virginia to see if I actually had cancer. Within a few days, I was in a doctor’s office at Urology of Virginia, and they scheduled me to remove the tumor to see if it was cancer or not,” he adds.
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Doctors discovered 25 tumors in his bladder, leading to a diagnosis of high-grade, non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer—a condition that often presents with subtle symptoms many people fail to recognize.
“At the time, I had no idea what bladder cancer was. I hadn’t even heard of a person that had bladder cancer—not in my family, not any of my friends at the time. It was new to me,” Hollowey Jr. shares. “I was trying to figure out how I got bladder cancer, because a few years before that, I had kidney cancer.”
Understandably, his initial thought was, “Am I going to make it?”
“When I got home, I was just depressed. I was really depressed; I was down. Then my youngest grandson came into the room, and I think he sensed something was wrong with his grandfather, and he just came and hugged me. And I said, ‘I’ve got to stay here; I’ve got to fight to help look after my grandchildren,’” he recalls.
Reflecting on his journey, Hollowey Jr. notes that there were earlier indicators he overlooked. A couple of years prior, while at the VA for routine blood work and urine testing, his doctor noted blood in his urine. That happened about three times over six months, yet the doctor never requested a follow-up.
“I didn’t think anything of it. But at some point, I noticed that when I would go to use the restroom, I didn’t see blood, but my urine was darker than normal. I drank a lot of water during the day and at night, so I was trying to figure out why my urine was so dark,” he notes. “But I didn’t think to go get a checkup because there was no pain, no real other symptoms other than the doctor telling me he noticed some slightly red blood in my urine.”
Now, he is sharing his story so others don’t make the same mistake. He wants people to understand that bladder cancer often doesn’t feel urgent at first, and that subtle or easy-to-dismiss symptoms can appear long before a diagnosis. He is particularly focused on reaching men and veterans who may be at higher risk and are often more likely to shrug off early symptoms.
He understands the stakes all too well, having lost two of his former shipmates to the same cancer he is battling.
“I told my shipmate, ‘Right now, I’m dealing with bladder cancer.’ And he told me that both of them died from bladder cancer. That just floored me. I couldn’t believe it,” Hollowey Jr. shares.
While not confirmed, he suspects his illness is linked to his military service. “We slept in the same berthing area where we had diesel exhaust in the berthing, and we consumed those fumes for over five years when we went out to sea. It’s just strange that three of us got bladder cancer—well, four of us, including me—and the other three didn’t make it.”
Today, he works with the Department of the Navy to teach young sailors the symptoms they should never ignore. “If you notice blood in your urine, or your urine is not normal, you should go get it checked out,” he says, adding that he believes testing for bladder cancer should be as standard as screenings for other common cancers.
Hollowey Jr. worked closely with his doctors to find a treatment plan that allowed him to avoid bladder removal and maintain his quality of life.
“I joined a group on the internet with people who have bladder cancer, and a lot of people who get those bags—they have a lot of side effects. Some think their life is good enough, but for the majority, their quality of life totally changed. I just wanted to do what was best for me to stick around for my grandchildren,” he says.
His doctor recommended a new systemic treatment, and “so far, it has been working.” Despite a recurrence, Hollowey Jr. is improving and continuing with his treatment plan. He credits his support system—his wife, sisters, mother, nurses, and church community—for helping him navigate the highs and lows of his journey.
“My wife is my ride or die. She has been there with me for every single appointment, every single procedure. She knows more about bladder cancer than I do,” he says. “My faith in God is huge. I’m not always worried, but I have moments where I think, ‘What’s going to happen next?’ … but my biggest support group is my family.”
Today, Hollowey Jr. is cancer-free and continuing his treatment.
“I’m living life every day, and I’m just grateful to be here. I’m not dwelling on what happened; I’m just enjoying every day,” he concludes. “My grandson just started football, and I want to see him play in every single game on Saturdays. I hope I’m around to see him playing in the NFL because he’s just that good. I’m trying to live life day by day, treat people the way I want to be treated, and educate people on this disease. You don’t have to let this consume you, because there are things you can do to take care of yourself.”
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