When Keeley Hellberg first showed symptoms of a urinary tract infection (UTI) in late 2021, she went to her doctor for help.
She thought it would clear up quickly, but even after four rounds of antibiotics, her symptoms persisted. If anything, things got worse. On a family trip to Hawaii in March 2022, Hellberg was in the bathroom seventeen times on the four and a half hour flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu.
“I was just crying the whole time,” she said.
At the beginning of April 2022, six months after symptom onset, she had a diagnosis: interstitial cystitis (IC), or painful bladder syndrome. A scan of her bladder showed that her bladder wall was thick and inflamed. A biopsy confirmed the diagnosis.
Over the coming months her condition continued to fluctuate. She met with dietitians, physical therapists, and pain management specialists. She had countless surgeries and treatments including steroid and Botox injections into her bladder wall, a bladder lining repair medication, and a transplant medication that suppressed her immune system to help decrease inflammation.
She never got relief for more than a few weeks at a time.
During this time, she couldn’t see her grandchildren very often, for fear of getting sick.
“My poor little grandkids would ask me, ‘grandma, can you play, or do you have a bladder today?’,” she said. “It was heart breaking for everybody.”
In May 2023, Hellberg’s urologist referred her to Jeremy Myers, MD, professor of surgery and division chief of urology at University of Utah Health. Myers has spent two decades helping patients with end stage bladder disease find relief through urinary diversion surgery.
During the initial consultation with Myers, Hellberg learned about two bladder removal surgeries. In a final attempt to address Hellberg’s condition without surgery, Myers created a comprehensive treatment plan to see if there was anything else that could be done.
While a new medication seemed to help a little, a painful relapse showed that it would not work long term. Hellberg met with Myers again. It had been a year since their initial consultation.
“We decided to try one more round of steroid injections, but I only had relief for 11 days,” said Hellberg.
Because Keeley’s individual case went beyond the typical IC symptoms, her bladder was contracted and extremely inflamed. Bladder removal surgery was her only remaining treatment option.
After Myers and his team reviewed the two surgical options with Hellberg and her husband, she decided to move forward with the colon pouch procedure. While beneficial, surgery also has its risks.
“There isn’t much that’s more invasive than this surgery,” said Myers. “It’s a really complex problem, and a high risk surgery.”
Hellberg knew the recovery would be difficult, and that there was a thirty percent chance of complications.
“The surgery – it was big,” she said. “I was so ready for it, though.”
She couldn’t have been in better hands. In his two decades with U of U Health, Myers has performed around two hundred colon pouch procedures. U of U Health is one of the top providers in the country for this procedure, thanks to Myers and the rest of the surgical urologist team.
“I have always thought this procedure is such a great option for patients like Keeley,” said Myers.
In a colon pouch, a large piece of the colon is opened up and fashioned into a sphere. The urinary tubes from the kidneys are attached to this sphere, and then a narrow tube of bowel is brought from the sphere to the skin. No external stoma bag is needed. Instead, the patient catheterizes through the small hole in the abdomen when the new bladder needs to be drained. Patients catheterize four to five times a day, and it only takes about 5 minutes to do.
Hellberg had surgery on September 25, 2025. The nine and a half hour procedure was a success. She spent 13 days in the hospital. After coming home, she had a few issues with her blood pressure that quickly resolved.
“I spent ten months just feeling kind of weak and fatigued, but the pain was gone immediately after surgery,” she said.
Hellberg has a small hole above her belly button that goes straight to her new bladder.
“I can catheter now instead of having to run to the bathroom and cry every thirty minutes,” she said. “There’s no discomfort at all and there’s no urge to go to the bathroom. Most importantly, there’s no pain.”
Today, Hellberg is doing really well. She and her husband are back to traveling, biking, playing pickleball, and spending time with their three kids and eight grandchildren – things she thought she might never be able to do again.
“It’s so hard to even relate to how weak, sick, and in pain I was before surgery,” she said. “It has totally changed my life and my family’s lives so much for the better.”
She knows she wouldn’t be where she is today without her surgeon and care team.
“I can’t give enough praise to my primary urologist, to Dr. Myers and to his entire team,” she said. “Before surgery, Dr. Myers made sure he answered every question and made sure he laid everything out so we would know what to expect.”
While Hellberg has a lot of good things to say about Myers, the feeling is mutual.
“Keeley is a really wonderful person,” he said. “She’s a really good advocate, and she’s very engaged in our research efforts and just wants to help others.”
Myers enjoys connecting with patients like Hellberg, and spending time providing care for each patient both leading up to and after surgery.
“In a lot of surgical fields, you do the surgery and then you never see the patient again,” he said. “But, with urology I get to have a lot of longitudinal follow up with patients.”
Hellberg relied on her faith and her family to get through her darkest times during treatment. She has advice for others who may be wondering how they can overcome a similar prognosis.
“Things will be so much better on the other side,” she said. “Go through all of the treatment steps and if they’re not working, don’t be afraid of the surgery.”
For Hellberg, the surgery has been nothing short of a miracle.
“I can’t believe this is my life,” she said. “It really is such a miracle to me.”