About half of people with a neobladder experience leakage overnight, Kukreja says, which Sanders spoke candidly about during the press conference. “It’s a totally different life,” he said. “I depend on Depends … I cannot control my bladder.” At one point, he joked that he may need to have a "porta potty on the sideline” of games in case he needed to pee. Still, patients who opt for bladder removal tend to recover well after surgery. “Our surgeons here have looked at it, and about a year after surgery, quality of life is mostly at baseline in the most important ways,” Rosenberg says. “People can do almost everything they want to do in life regardless of the type of urinary reconstruction. It’s a big change, and it's not a trivial surgery, but it's hopefully a curative surgery and gets rid of the problem.” Catching bladder cancer on time Throughout the press conference, Sanders urged people to pay attention to their own health and get a check-up if they notice anything unusual. There’s no screening test for bladder cancer, but experts agree that if you notice any blood in your urine, you should take it seriously and make a doctor’s appointment.