Active all her life, playing competitive fastball and hockey since she was young, Bobbi Jo
Beitz assumed the numbness she felt in her right heel was a sciatic nerve issue. She could
never have imagined that it would turn out to be something entirely different.
“Of all weird things, it started with some numbness in my right heel and then it started
getting a little more numb in my saddle region,” says Bobbi Jo. “I was going to the
chiropractor and when I mentioned to him about the numbness, he got really serious and
excused himself for a minute.”
At the urge of her chiropractor, Bobbi Jo visited her family doctor in October 2019 and got
scheduled in for an EMG and MRI in January 2020. Not long after, both tests got expedited
by her family doctor. “I remember them saying there was evidence of nerve damage and I
thought, ‘Okay, let’s figure this out.’ I did not have a thought of cancer.”
In the coming weeks, Bobbi Jo would learn she had a 6.8-centimetre mass in her sacrum
and a 2.8-centimetre lump in her left breast, with the latter discovered by a CT scan. On
December 5, 2019, Bobbi Jo was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
“I was mad,” says Bobbi Jo upon hearing her official diagnosis. “I was so mad because all
my life I’ve been active. There are all those risk factors which increase your chance of
getting cancer. I never smoked. I rarely drink. And of all those risk factors, there was only
one that I ticked off and that was having kids after the age of 30.”
With her family by her side, where she found nothing but positive support, Bobbi Jo rallied
her strength to move forward. “Whenever you hear someone talk about stage four you
automatically think doom and gloom, one foot in the grave. But it’s not doom and gloom
and one foot in the grave,” says Bobbi Jo.
Not the type of person to dwell and hide, Bobbi Jo sought out information to learn more
about her diagnosis and turned to the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cancer Information
Helpline (CIH), finding the experience to be therapeutic and wonderful. CIH is a national,
toll-free service available to anyone in need of support and looking for cancer information.
“The lady I spoke with – she was amazing. She was so compassionate. When I spoke with
that lady, she listened to every single word I said. She was so nice, and I was grateful
because it wasn’t that you were just a statistic. She made me feel important, even if it was
just something small.”
Bobbi Jo continues to live her life with the hope that one day, there will be a cure. Its why
research is so important to her because it can help people like her live longer. “There’s a lot
that I’ve still got to see. Every little bit helps and every little bit counts. It goes to a good
cause to help people.”
Today, she keeps herself busy by finding new hobbies, including taking up piano lessons,
bird watching, photography and joining a dragon boat team made up of breast cancer
thrivers and survivors to live her life to the fullest while she can amidst a pandemic.
“There’s a lot of things that I haven’t been able to do. I used to play hockey and now I can’t
because it would be a little too dangerous and the chemo – not to mention the cancer itself
– has weakened my bones. But I found other things to do to keep myself busy. Life takes
some funny turns, but you just got to go with that bend!” says Bobbi Jo.
Bobbi Jo hopes to inspire and be of help to people on similar cancer journey’s, especially
those who are newly diagnosed. An advocate for the MBC community, she wants to create
more awareness about MBC.
“Everyone has heard of breast cancer but I’d never heard of metastatic,”
remarks Bobbi Jo. “Treatment is ongoing. I want people to know it’s scary, but sometimes
it’s the words that are scarier more than anything. While cancer sucks, it is not all scary and
gloomy.”