Peri,
This link is a good resource for understanding the basics about bladder cancer and the symptoms.
www.emedicinehealth.com/bladder_cancer/article_em.htm
The primary symptoms are: Blood in the urine (sometimes so little that it can't be seen but is discovered in a urine test), burning or pain during urination, changes in bladder habits (frequency, urgency), multiple UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections) in a year.
Since women can have other reasons for blood to be present, they must be especially diligent. If they think blood is not related to periods, they must INSIST on a referall to a urologist from their general doctor. Women are often diagnosed in later stages than men because blood in urine gets written off as being related to menstruation when it is not.
Now, to the situation of diagnosis. Typically, when told one has bladder cancer (as with many cancers) the initial reaction is shock. Once the doctor says the words, you only hear about every fifth word of what he or she says after that. Your head is spinning and your thinking "Oh crap! I'm gonna die!". Being diagnosed with stage 2, typically means the surgery so the urologist is probably babbling on about the surgery and what that means. Of course, you are not hearing much of this because you're still thinking "What am I going to do, why me, how did this happen, I'm gonna die, what about my family". Then the urologist might even start explaining the surgery and that for men they remove the prostate at the same time as the bladder and for women they remove part of the vagina and also remove the uterus. So, for a younger person, male or female, you're thinking "But, I wanted kids. How the heck am I going to have kids? What about sex?"
Once you recover from the initial shock of the diagnosis, one typically starts searching for information. Common searches people first do are on prognosis. You want to know if it is even worth doing anything about if you're going to die in a couple years anyway. Luckily, when caught early, bladder cancer is very treatable. It takes a while to find this out though so it is a nerve racking time. Telling family and friends is hard and you want to have information as soon as possible so you can explain things to them. I'm not sure if you've already learned about the stages of grief, but this is something many people go through when first diagnosed. That's denial, anger, acceptance, etc. You can google "stages of grief" for more on that.
Just a note. While not all people who get bladder cancer smoked, it does greatly increase the chances. The reason is that the body filters carcinogens just like it filters other things. Those carcinogens sit in the bladder in the urine exposing the bladder wall to prolonged contact. This might also be helpful information to share with your class. There are other risk factors that you will read about if you look at the links I gave you, but smoking is the biggest one. Men get it more than women but a higher percentage of women die from it because of later diagnosis, a thinner bladder wall (which means it can penetrate the bladder layers faster in women even if the cancer is spreading at the same rate), and potentially other reasons they haven't figured out yet.
I think this may be enough to get you started on your project. Let us know any other questions that you have as you go along.
Read through some of the forum threads on this site, especially the newly diagnosed. That is where real live people who truly facing the situation described post questions and fears and concerns. Try to get into the head of the person you are reading about, feel the feelings if you can. Convince yourself, for only a moment that you truly were diagnosed with stage 2 cancer. Let a tear well up in your eyes. Feel the shock and disbelief. Then...tell the story.
Mike