Men’s Health Week 2025 – Charlie’s Message

In early 2024, one of Robson’s valued retired workers reach out with some news that had changed his life. Charlie Lucas didn’t expect to be facing bladder cancer so soon after retirement, but he wanted to share his story to make others aware of the signs and just how important it is to look after your health.

Charlie’s Story

Hi everyone,

For the benefit of those that didn’t know me during my working time at Robson, my name is Charlie Lucas, and I worked as a Construction Worker from 2013 to 2021 when I retired but then came back to do some casual work until September 2022.

What happened next is not something I never expected in retirement.

Sooooo … this is my story that I want to share with mainly the teams working on job sites…

How Charlie was Diagnosed with Bladder Cancer

I wasn’t feeling great. I had a burning sensation every time I peed and there was also a detection of blood in my urine. The doctor I saw suggested I take Ural for 2 weeks, a product mainly prescribed for urinary tract infections. This was not working. The next step was to have a CT scan, which didn’t look good, and then follow up with seeing a Urologist; fun times awaiting
if you can say that (definitely not!).

A Cystoscopy procedure found a tumour in my bladder. It was removed and a small dose of chemotherapy was administered whilst I was knocked out.

Next, I was off to the Chemo ward for 6 lots of treatment over a quick period; 2 hours on a Tuesday and 8 hours on a Wednesday. This was pure poison going into my system to try to stop the cancer or at least slow it down. I couldn’t do the 6 rounds so only received 4 lots, it was just too severe on the body.

After this, the news from the doctor was that my bladder had to be removed as the cancer is aggressive. I asked a lot of questions, good questions I’m told, but the answers I received were not good ones.

So, the operation was performed and I was told I would have a bladder bag for the rest of my life. Imagine what that does to your manhood! But having this was far better than the other option; I’m still here to tell my story. In November I spent 15 days in hospital to be followed up with 12 weeks recovery. At the time of sharing my story with you, I’m feeling better day by day. Although this experience is a good way to lose weight – haha!, I don’t recommend it!

Now for the important bit… One of the reasons this scenario can happen, combined with other things, is because we hold on to our full bladder for long periods of time. This is not a good idea. If you need to pee, just pee, don’t hold it! The older you get you become prone to a lot of things, this is just one. If you feel something in any part of your body isn’t right, don’t wait, get checked straight away. Early detection of anything can help save your life.

As I get stronger I hope I can get back to Robson’s to see some of my fellow workers in person and elaborate more on my experience; I don’t want to see anyone go through this if it can be avoided.

And just to finish off, I want to say that working at Robson was the best 9 years of my life (although some supervisors I worked with might not think so hahaha)!!!!!!!

Charlie, thank you for your honesty, humour and strength — and for spreading awareness about this important topic. We look forward to seeing you next when you pop into the Robson office for a visit!