Ep 27: Diagnosed with Stage 3 Breast Cancer… She Refused to Stop Running

Robyn Bell was flying.

2022 had been a golden year... PBs, momentum, everything clicking. Then, just days into 2023, she found a lump.

Within weeks, she went from parkrun to chemotherapy.

In this powerful episode of Runbelievable, Joshie sits down with Robyn to talk about what happened next; and why, despite everything, she kept running.

Through chemotherapy, major surgeries, and ongoing fatigue, running became the one thing she could control. Whilst others questioned her life choices, Robyn quietly kept showing up, often squeezing in runs before school drop-off.

This is a story about resilience, perspective, and the role running can play when life is at its most uncertain.

In this episode:

• A golden year of running before everything changed
• Finding a lump and the shock of diagnosis
• From parkrun to chemotherapy in weeks
• Choosing to keep running during treatment
• Balancing parenting, fatigue, and recovery
• Major surgeries and long-term impacts
• The mental strength behind “staying in your own lane”

Runbelievable — real runners, unreal stories.

Interested in being a guest on the show? Hit us up!

👉 Everything Runbelievable:

http://runbelievable.au

🎧 New episodes drop weekly; hit follow so you don’t miss a lap!

Transcript

Intro

Robyn 0:07

The other thing is, don't take life so seriously. You don't know what's around the corner, you really don't, and your life just can change in the blink of an eyelid, which it literally did for us.

Joshie 0:22

Hello everybody and welcome to Run Believable, the podcast that celebrates Why We Run. I'm your host, Josh Christian, and I'm here to bring you stories about what first got people running and what keeps them wasting up day after day. From the last election of Time 4 co-hosts, it's Why We Run and How It Shapes, Who We Become. And coming up in just a couple of moments, you'll meet a cancer survivor who simply refused to stop running during treatment. Others called her mad. She couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Well, wait until you hear how everything transpired. Naddie, welcome back. Thanks for stepping in once again.

Natty 1:00

Hey Joshy, it's good to be back again. I'm really enjoying it.

Runbelievable Rundown

Joshie 1:04

Well, it's great to have you. Now, look, normally I'd ask the co-host how they're going, but you've made it quite clear you've only got 6.23 minutes before you have to head to the airport. So I will skip straight to the unbelievable rundown. Now, uh Natty, I've noticed that a few peeps have been posting some rather quirky things on Garmin and Strava over the last couple of weeks about AI glitches. Now, a few weeks ago, we have a listener called uh Sarah, and she noted that Garmin triggered an emergency warning purely because she was doing strides.

Natty 1:39

Now I'm in trouble then.

Joshie 1:42

Well, yeah, that's fair. Look, I guess um it's perhaps better to have false positives than false negatives in a situation like that, but still, how um how frustrating. And yeah, and in fact, you've actually got one of your own, haven't you? A little while back you had a bit of a Strava AI glitch.

Natty 2:00

Oh, you're about to try and be funny here. No, stop being Strava told me that I was not a runner and it was great to see me trying after I'd had a break.

Joshie 2:11

Yeah, I think it said you just come back from eight weeks off running, and I think uh the AI feedback that Strava presented you with was great effort, especially given it's an unfamiliar activity.

Natty 2:24

Yes, it did. Copy splitives after that. Yep.

Quiz Time: Forrest Gump

Joshie 2:30

Not surprised. Now look, if you have a quirky AI glitch or anything along those lines, we would truly love to hear it. It brings us endless entertainment. Now, Naddy, it's no secret that you love running.

Natty 2:42

Yes.

Joshie 2:43

And you also love movies.

Natty 2:45

Oh, what have you done?

Joshie 2:47

Well, what better topic would there be to test you on than Forest Gump? And yes, it is it is a running movie.

Natty 2:54

Okay.

Joshie 2:55

And for this one, there is no multiple choice because you are a self-proclaimed movie bust. No, I'm not. Well, you are now, and your attention for movie and music knowledge is well on the topic of movies, Rain Man. Fine. All right. Uh okay, so let's see how you go. Once again, you just got to get these right. No multiple choice. Question number one. In what year was Forrump released?

Natty 3:22

1994.

Joshie 3:26

You are correct. I know you knew, but you paused for effect. I like how you gave our listeners a chance to get their own answers in. Question number two. Yep. Who directed Forrest Gump?

Natty 3:42

Robert Zemekis.

Joshie 3:44

Listen, you need to give a little bit of a pause for our listeners to have a go. Now you are correct. I love the urgency with which you answered. You're the other contestant, so you can take your time.

Natty 3:56

I know what one you're gonna ask next, and I can't think of the answer, so trouble.

Joshie 4:02

How do you know? You haven't seen my notes.

Natty 4:04

Are you gonna ask me who did the music?

Joshie 4:07

No, I am not. That would actually be no, it's a much easier question. Okay. Once again, no multiple choice. For how long did Forest Gump run?

Natty 4:17

Oh shit. I just kept running. I don't know.

Joshie 4:24

And he kept running for how long?

Natty 4:26

I don't know. Um several years, I think.

Joshie 4:31

I need you to be more specific than that.

Natty 4:34

Four years.

Joshie 4:36

You're not too far off. He ran for by the way, if anyone's listening and they get this right, give yourself a pat on the back. He ran for three years, two months, fourteen days, and sixteen hours. That's ridiculous.

Natty 4:47

No one would get that.

Joshie 4:49

Well, we'll see. Well, give yourself a pat on the back now. Two out of three is not too bad. Who did the music, by the way?

Natty 4:56

Is it Horner? I'm not sure.

Guest Spotlight: Robyn Bell

Joshie 5:00

I'm not sure. Well, look, if you've been playing along at home, please let us know. And if there's a particular quiz topic that you'd like us to feature, then please hit us up. Today's guest had just come off a golden year of running. 2022 was filled with PBs, momentum. She was flying. Then just days into 2023, she found a lump. What followed was a major life disruption, but also a period that would define her, and one that truly epitomizes character building and resilience. Can we please welcome Robin Bell? Welcome, Robin. Before we kick off, I must ask firstly, how's your health now?

Robyn 5:38

Um, really good, really good. Um, yep, so far, you know, I'm a couple of years clear, so technically not in remission until I hit five years. But um, yeah, PET scans are good, health is good. Um, probably for the first time in a long time, I actually feel like I'm getting back to my normal self and things don't hurt so much.

Joshie 6:02

Oh, that's awesome. Now let me get this right. If any of this is incorrect, please feel free to step in. Um the 1st of January 2023, you did New Year's Day Parkrun. Yep. And you felt fine.

Robyn 6:16

Yeah, that was my hundredth parkrun, actually.

Joshie 6:19

Oh, wow.

Robyn 6:20

So that was my that's what I thought I was starting the year off with a bang.

Joshie 6:24

And so your parkrun milestone gift, I think, was four days later. You found a lump. Yeah. And then four weeks later you're having chemotherapy. Can you how much can you remember about that period of your life?

Robyn 6:37

Uh it's it's it's it's pretty um prominent in my life, and um it was a real game changer. We were just uh, you know, just found this lump and I don't know, it was just obviously I I didn't think it was anything. I just thought menopause and fibroid, and you know, it was like, you know, uh it was um nothing. And I'm a pretty calm person, so it wasn't but then something in the back of my head had obviously thought, no, you you probably should get this checked, as I'd my cousin um was diagnosed with breast cancer six months before. And um so somehow I just I don't know, I managed to get a GP appointment that day, and you know, she was she thought the same thing, it was nothing, and um just booked into the breast clinic and wasn't concerned at all. And then yeah, it um then once I had my ultrasound and mammogram, um yeah, they literally called me back in and told me to cancel holidays and bring someone with me, and you know, they hoped it wasn't anything bad, but um yeah, a day later, so you know, I um found out I had uh yeah, breast cancer, uh metastatic breast cancer. So uh how advanced was the cancer, Robin, when you found out it was stage three, so um obviously like after I've had the ultrasound and the um because it was already in my lymph nodes. So after I had the ultrasound and the um they did a biopsy, I went and saw a surgeon. So the next two weeks after that was just w were pretty much a blur. I'd seen a surgeon, I'd had blood tests done, I'd had MRIs, PET scans, CT scans, um, come back and seen her, and then that was when we found out that it was stage three, metastatic, and I carried the brackogene as well. So the three things you don't want when you get breast cancer. But um, and I didn't I didn't understand what um triple negative was either. So um, and I just I said to my husband, I was like, oh, I don't know what this is, but I don't think it's good. And that was when we found out that if you have triple negative as well, um they basically don't know what feeds the cancer, so you're at a much higher risk of um of recurrence.

Joshie 9:01

So but is that something that can only be tested for once you have cancer? Or is it something that can be tested for it?

Robyn 9:09

Because normally with breast cancer, it's like oestrian, progestion, or um, I think it's hurt too, um, then so there's hormones that feed it, and then they can give you some medication after you've been treated to basically stop that hormone feeding the cancer. So therefore recurrence. But when you're triple negative, it's none of those three. So they don't actually know what is feeding the cancer.

Joshie 9:34

Um so does that make treatment more difficult if they don't know what's feeding?

Robyn 9:39

Um, I think treatment can is is the same. Like obviously, if you're metastatic and all of those sorts of things. So I had immunotherapy, I had chemo, I had radiation, and then I had multiple surgeries as well. Um yeah, it just means you're you're after your treatment has finished, you're a bit like a lamb to the slaughter sort of thing. Um, you know, you're just like that's it. You know, you just you have your scans and everything, and you know, um, it's just that you're at a much higher risk of it coming back. That's all. So and carrying the recognition too, you're a higher risk as well.

Joshie 10:17

So Robin, you come across as being a very pragmatic person um that you you sort of don't usually take too much time to sort of you know dwell on things. But was there a moment where you sort of paused and went, is this actually quite serious that I'm dealing with, or did you just go straight into go mode?

Robyn 10:36

I went straight into go mode. I um I I did it didn't, to tell you the truth, you don't really have any time um because it was, as said, from diagnosis, like within two weeks, I had seen a surgeon, um uh oncologist, I'd had blood test, CT scans, PET scans, MRIs, like every day I was having something again, just waiting on the next step, the next step. And I remember seeing the oncologist on the Friday, he um called me in and made an extra appointment. And David and I went in and he said, When do you want to start chemo? And I said, straight away. But the funniest thing was I I said I'll do it on the Tuesday. So they could do it on the Tuesday. So I had started chemo that following Tuesday, because for me in my head, I figured, well, I probably won't be feeling that well for the first few days, and then I'll be good for parkrun on Sunday. But um it didn't work out that way actually. It worked out better the other way because you're on a really high dose of steroids at the beginning, and then sort of towards the end of the end of the week before you start again, you're coming off the steroids and everything. So it actually was the opposite. I probably should have had chemo on the Friday and then ran parkrun on Saturday.

Joshie 11:48

You make it sound like you tried to fit your treatment around your running goals, Robin.

Robyn 11:53

Uh pretty much did, yeah, yeah. I did. I did. I ran I ran every day before um chemo. I drove myself to chemo, I took myself home from chemo. Um yeah, I just a girl that I'd walk in there every day and they'd go, you know, I've been for run daily, yeah, yeah, you know. And as I said, some days were a run, some days were a walk, some days were a crawl, and it was obviously a big adjustment and mentally a big adjustment because I had to get my head around that I couldn't do what I used to do, and you know, it was going it was some days were really, really hard.

Joshie 12:29

So did you feel like something had been taken away?

Robyn 12:34

Sorry, I didn't think I'd tell you the truth, I was just pissed. Um It wasn't so much me, it was um the people around me that I felt for. Um at that stage I had an 11-year-old who didn't deserve it. I had a husband who one minute had a healthy wife, next minute didn't. I'd had a mum that had seen her husband pass away from cancer and had to go through it with me. Um I had friends that were didn't know what to do, you know. So for me it was I didn't I didn't really um I wasn't really thinking about myself and such. I it was more I felt guilt for the people around me.

Joshie 13:38

Yeah. I mean uh presumably uh they put your interests first.

Robyn 13:45

Um totally, you know, without was that them, without my work was phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal. Um my friends, just everyone, like without them, I couldn't there's no way I could have done and it's a it's an eye-opener because it makes you actually realize the good people you've surrounded yourself with and um you must be doing something all right if you have those kind of people in your life. So yeah. And and and and you know, no one flinched, no one, no one um was never not there for me, which was phenomenal because I know a lot of people go, you know, you find out who your true friends are in situations like this. And I had no one that really wasn't there for me.

Joshie 14:40

Do you wonder whether you might have put a bit too much pressure on yourself around that time? I mean, I know it must have been very difficult for your body to not respond the way that it did before you got sick, but was there do you feel that you there was an element of added pressure that you put on yourself during that time to keep going?

Robyn 14:57

Uh yeah, I think so. I think um I think for me running mentally was I I needed it because I had too much time. Um, as I said, like cancer is just, you know, you ha you're all of a sudden, you know, you you go from working and doing all these things to um you're you you're just going to chemo, you're going to test, you're going to doctors, you're doing all these kinds of things. Um and everyone else's life goes on. As I said, like, you know, for the first couple of months, you've got food coming, you've got flowers, you've got people, you've got everything. But a couple of months in, everyone else's life goes on. And that that's, you know, that that's just that's just the way it is. So you have a lot of time on your hands to, you know, and you you're just trying to keep things as normal as possible for all the people around you. Um yeah, I d I think I get tried to make it as normal as possible when it wasn't really normal and probably didn't um let people know when I was really struggling. Like I just tried to just, you know. But running was my thing. Like, you know, I got up every morning and I just I don't know, I just felt like that was about the only thing I could could control in a little sense. Not really, but you know, d control as much as I could.

Joshie 16:23

Did you have to take much time off work?

Robyn 16:25

I took a whole year off because I had um six months. So I had twelve weeks, I think it was of chemo and immunotherapy. And then I had what was called the Red Devil, which was so that was the chemo, the first lot of twelve twelve or sixteen weeks, I can't even remember now. Um was day was weekly chemo. And then I had what was called the Red Devil, which was three lots or four lots of it was every three weeks, which is basically the yeah, you're basically really poisoning your body. It's it's the most people can't move, can't walk, can't uh very, very sick. I was very lucky with chemo and saying, you know, um I actually didn't get sick. I was tired, but I I never had nausea, I never had um, I did end up in hospital. I came out in a really bad reaction from my first lot of immunotherapy. And again, it was quite funny because I um had this massive rash all over my body and I just didn't realise. Like I was like, I was like, oh, you know, it's not that bad, I don't think. And I got up middle night and I couldn't sleep and I was scratching, scratching, and just thought, I won't wake David. And then I got up and I took Nick had to be at school early and took him to school, and I rang David on the way home, on the way back and said, I rang, I think I'm gonna go to the hospital. I d I just don't think this is right. And um, I got up to day oncology and they just took one look at me and said, Robin, there's rashes and there's rashes, and this is ridiculous. And then they I I don't remember three days. They literally drugged me for three days because I was so bad. And um gosh, was in hospital. So um, and yeah, the there was three days that I spoke to people and I I discharged myself from hospital on day leave to go. Nick was doing shape for a cure at school. And um, I just said I'd I'd promised him I was gonna be there. So I said, I just need day leave. And I remembered I I know David's parents picked me up, but I don't remember anything else. I don't remember being there. And I remember talking, I I found out months later that I'd spoken to people who had visited me that I didn't know had visited, and I had said things that I probably shouldn't have said. But you know, yeah, it was quite funny, really.

Joshie 18:54

You mentioned before that you felt like running was something that you could control. And so you kept running during treatment. Yeah. As I mentioned before, almost trying to fit your treatment around running, which is totally understandable. Um, you and I caught up a few weeks ago. I think you mentioned that you try and fit in a run before the school run. Yep. Was that were there any potential health implications for choosing to run during treatment, or was it really up to yourself and how you've felt day to day?

Robyn 19:26

No, they they they encouraged it. Like they knew, like m for A, for my mental health, but B, um, I think I coped so well with all the treatment because I was so fit and healthy. Um, you know, I'd come off a cracker of a year running, like my best year ever. And um I I I, you know, I've seen people go, like my cousin who's ahead of me in the breast cancer journey, um, you know, we we've had completely different, completely different paths. Um but yeah, definitely being, I think being fit and healthy and just um and getting out there and exercising every day was something that they encouraged. And when I did my um after I finished my treatment, I did the I did a half marathon and I did a marathon and um I gave my medals to my oncologist and my um radiation oncologist because I was like, Oh, cool. I wouldn't have I said, you know, I couldn't have done, I wouldn't be here without them.

Joshie 20:26

So Oh, that's beautiful. Oh, that's awesome, Robin. Um I mean, I'm sure others around you thought that you were a bit mad to keep doing what you did during treatment. Yeah, they all thought what is it though that what is it though that you think that those people don't understand about what it was like for you.

Robyn 20:47

Also, like, you know, like with the oncology team, I don't think they normally see someone doing what I was doing. So um I said I did um through my Red Devil, I think I was my I think I'd had my first lot and I did a 15k down at um the GC30. And I'd registered and one of the nurses was like, you know, you're not you you like you can't, and I was like, I can. And they were like, like, it's impossible. Like it, and I said, I don't care. I said I'll walk, I'll crawl, I don't care, I'll get it done. And um, yeah, and I did it in under six minute pace. I said the six minute pacer was in front of me with about 500 to go, and I was like, you're not staying there. So um yeah, I did and I did um I did a 10k, I did the 10k and the 5k down at the Gold Coast during my treatment, um which the 5k I did the Saturday, and then the 10k was the Sunday, and that um uh I yeah, that took me a long time to recover. Craig Robinson, who you know, um he said, No, no, I'll run with you. And I was like, No, no, you know, I didn't want to hold anyone up. It's like, no, no. No, don't worry about it. He's like, no, no, I'm gonna run with you. And he ran, like, walked with me, and it took me that's over an hour, and but it took me probably a couple of months to recover from that. I was um to get it was it was yeah, my body was just shot after that one. But which is funny because I don't know, I didn't feel like I'd you know, we ran, we walked, we didn't, you know, it wasn't, but I think my yeah, I was just um because I had my because when you're having chemo too, you like, you know, you can end up neutropenic, which I did a few times, where your white cell count is like basically rock bottom, and that's what fights all the diseases and sickness.

Joshie 22:53

Okay.

Robyn 22:53

So um, but the chemo um depletes all your white cells. So um, yeah, there was a couple times where I was gonna have to not have chemo that week, but I was like, no. I had a plan. I was this is happening, because at this time I'm doing this, and once this is finished, then I knew six weeks later so I could have surgery, and then six weeks later so I could have chemo, uh radiation. And so I was on a time plan to get this all smashed out in my first year, and I wasn't back and down.

Joshie 23:28

I I'm just I just admire your determination, uh Robin. You've mentioned something called Red Devil a couple of times. Is that the same as radiation or is that different?

Robyn 23:37

No, it's a type of chemo, so then so you normally um so depending on the type of can like you how advanced your cancer is, so they give you normally like the 12 weeks or 14 weeks or whatever it is, of just like when I say normal chemo, like you know, um it's not as strong, but this red devil is what they do to basically really make sure they've got it. So if you're stage three, like if you're um more advanced, they they give you this, which I d I don't know whether I didn't hear or I just switched off or what. So when I'd finished my first 12 weeks of cancer uh treatment um chemo, I was like, yeah, yeah, I've got this, like, yeah, I was so excited. And you know, the guy had balloons and they had champagne and everything for me, and then I went and he told me I was doing this, and I said, What? I was just like, did I not hear this? I'd like, you know, probably because there was so much information coming at me. Of course. I don't know whether I'd never got that memo or whether it was, I don't know. I didn't, you know, and I was like, oh, you're kidding me, because that was another uh probably three months. So because it was it's only every three weeks, I think, because it's so potent. And I had immunotherapy with everything. I used to have immunotherapy every three weeks for 12 months as well, which was um the big game changer because that had only just been approved for breast cancer in January of 2023. Um it they'd been using it for lung cancer and um skin cancer, but not breast cancer. So my I, you know, if if anything, I was lucky I was diagnosed when I was, and not like I didn't know the year before, because I wouldn't have had that opportunity to have the immunotherapy, which is what they're using for so many cancers now, with really, really good results.

Joshie 25:29

So was the immunotherapy uh is that something that was used instead of um another form of treatment or in addition to they get so they would the back like they would it would just be something else they would give me every three weeks with my chemo.

Robyn 25:44

So and then when I'd finished my chemo, I just used to go in every three weeks and just have the immunotherapy. Um but yeah, it's the new game changer for, you know, um I think that um what's his name, Procter? Uh the the brain the guy that's got brain surgery who uh uh brain cancer, who is um he does all the park runs and everything.

Joshie 26:09

Um of course, Richard's Richard Scalia.

Robyn 26:12

He's trialing um, because it hasn't been approved for brain cancer, and he's been using immunotherapy, um, trialling it, and you know, he's lasted a lot longer than what.

Joshie 26:24

Yeah, I think he's um former Australian of the year, he's also used, I think, some of his his own research as a form of treatment, which is incredible. Um can you take us to what a typical day would look like during your treatment, like trying to navigate fatigue, parenting, staying active, maintaining the home. What did a day look like for you?

Robyn 26:48

I think I was in denial about a lot of it. Um so I just used to get up at five in the morning and you know, get Nick to get him to training and get him to whatever, and and once I dropped him and figured I was up so I'd always go for a run or a walk. Um, you know, some days I was in tears, some days I felt good, you know, had a lot of time to think. You know, I remember there's one day I think I actually wrote my own bloody obituary for one general. Like, you know, you just have so much time to think about things. And and you know, I I didn't know how it was gonna go. I didn't know whether, you know, being metastatic and having all those other things that, you know, you don't want. Um, you know, I never knew what what it was ever gonna look like. I never knew, you know, whether I was gonna be here now or, you know, it was it it wasn't a great start. Um but and then I just come home and you know, try and pretend, you know, everything was normal and keep the house clean and you know, do all that kind of stuff so that I felt like if I kept things as normal as possible for everyone else, everyone else would cope and you know, um and then I I could cope because I think if you know if if everyone else did fall around apart around me, I probably would have fallen apart as well. So, you know, not saying there wasn't days where I did fall apart, because there was days where I was like, you know, you know what, I don't want to do this. I'm done, you know, but then you know, I remember one day David said to me, Well, don't. And I said, I don't have a choice. This is you know, like, like I don't want to do this, but I don't I don't really have a choice. So you know, and that and I think that's sometimes a hard thing to because you do have a choice, but you don't have a choice because you know, it's either if you stop treatment, you may as well just um yeah, you know, write your own obituary and go to get ready for your funeral sort of thing.

Joshie 28:53

When you and I caught up a few weeks ago, I think you referred to this as staying in your own lane. Um is that something that was, I guess, born from self-preservation? Was that you looking after yourself?

Robyn 29:06

Uh I think it was for David, Nick, and I, it was all of us looking after ourselves. It it was survival. So I, you know, um, and as I said to you the other week, you know, I think we all had to stay in that lane. I don't I think if we would have crossed the lanes, I think um we would have all fallen apart, which was not going to help anyone. So I think by David staying in his lane, like he could, you know, just he he he kept it together. And there was times, you know, where he didn't keep it together, where he lost it. But normally then I would be, I'd be strong and I'd be good. And then when I lost it, he'd be strong. And, you know, and and you know, there was times where he would ring my friends and just go, I need help, because you know, he didn't know what to do. He didn't, you know, because he c and and and for people on the outside, it's it, you know, that's where I think sometimes it is a lot harder because they can't do anything. They can't take the pain away, they can't make you feel better, they can't say, you know, everything's gonna be alright because they don't know either. And then, you know, Nick being 11, you know, I'm we it's that you know, that something no child should ever go through.

Joshie 30:18

But you know how how did Nick handle that period of time?

Robyn 30:23

He was phenomenal. Really, really good. Um yeah. He had the best year that year. He at ACE school, he got academic results, uh awards, he, you know, smashed everything. And I think that's just because we, you know, um we all just stay now in the wind, you know. Um yeah, you know, um probably, you know, now three years on, you know, he um he needs help with things because it has affected him.

Joshie 31:03

Which I mean, eleven is such a tough age to be navigating something.

Robyn 31:09

So we'd only been at Nudgy for a year as well. So he's just going into the beginning of year six, you know, so it was um, you know, i i and and and being that age and being boys, you know, that ain't he didn't tell anyone. He didn't unless people knew me, he didn't he didn't tell any of his friends, he didn't tell anyone. So, um, you know, which just was fine, you know, he had to deal with it the way he dealt with it. I had to go, I went up to the school and let them know what was going on, just to, you know, um if they saw changes or there was something going on that they would let us know.

Joshie 31:47

But yeah, did the oncology department or the school offer any support to either yourself or Nick during that?

Robyn 31:56

Yeah, they um Yeah, they they do. Like they offer you all that, but me being me, I was just like, nah, I've got this, like, you know, I don't know. I just I think I had enough going on in my own head that I, you know, that's probably all I could cope with at the time. Um and and the school's got an amazing counselling department and stuff like that, which, you know, we started going, you know, I'd introduce Nick to that and um, you know, which he he chats to them regularly at school. Um and they've they've got Nudgio phenomenal with that. They've got um really good support networks and I made sure the the people who needed to know knew, um, and would obviously alert us is if there was that you know, they noticed anything. So um, but if anything, it was a contrary. Um, he just absolutely annihilated everything that year. So um that's incredible.

Joshie 32:58

Yeah, I wonder what an awesome young kid he is.

Robyn 33:01

He is, we're very lucky actually.

Joshie 33:04

So not only were you sick and receiving treatment in 2023, I think you said that you also had um two major surgeries during that time as well. Um you're receiving radiation in chemotherapy. Uh what's the um the long tail of fatigue been like?

Robyn 33:24

Uh I said it's actually quite funny because I think a lot of people think, you know, with people having chemo, and you know, and everyone is different and everyone's journey is completely different. Um for me, luckily enough, with the chemo, as I said, I didn't get sick, yeah, tired, my vision was not great, like I had to stop driving um sort of towards the end of it because my um I it was just like I had to really concentrate and stuff. Um it was more night time than anything. Um, but the chemo I coped pretty well with, and I would just, you know, have when Noam was home, you know, I'd I'd sleep during the day. And I said I'd try to keep things as normal as possible. Um, but you know, if we did go to dinner or something like that, I would hit a wall and I'd say to David, you know, we gotta go, we've got to actually gotta go now. Cause like I would just hit a wall and I would just be need to just lay down and go to sleep. So um, but it was it was the radiation more. So I had the had all the chemo and then I had six weeks after my chemo, I could have my double mastectomy, but I couldn't have that um until then, and then I couldn't get um the implants or anything because I had to have radiation. So if you don't have radiation, you can go straight from a double mastectomy to um implants. But um if you have radiation you can't.

Joshie 34:48

So um And is that just because you're at higher risk of infection or is it?

Robyn 34:53

I think and then also just um I think it it can affect the implants, like where you have the radiation and stuff. So so I had the double mastectomy. So the weekend before that I um I ran the jetty to jetty. I used to run a race every time before I had surgery. I used to fit in my racing around my surgery.

Joshie 35:14

So I why am I not surprised?

Robyn 35:16

So I did the 10K Jetty to Jetty the the day before I um two days before I had that surgery. And then it six weeks after that surgery, I could have could start my radiation. So that's the timeline that I was on. So it was literally six weeks to the day from chemo, I booked him for my double mastectomy. Six weeks to the day from my double mastectomy, I booked him for radiation, and that was five weeks of daily going in there every day. Um which was fine because it was just down at Chernside, I um just down at um Icon down there and they were phenomenal again. Um but the fatigue from that I would say I only in the last six months or so that I feel like I'm coming back. Like the fatigue from radiation is and it's really it's I think really hard to explain, but also hard to get your own head around when you've finished your treatment and then you've still got this fatigue, and you're like, why?

Joshie 36:21

Is that is that common? I mean, here we are, what, two years, more than two years after you finish treatment. Is that common to still like?

Robyn 36:28

Yeah, but I see a lot of people, unless you're uh quite advanced in cancer, you don't need radiation. So, like a lot of people will just have chemo and they don't need radiation. Um, but because I was stage three, metastatic in the lymph nodes, and also um because I was triple negative and carried the brachagene, um, my risk is just really high. So um if I was stage two, maybe didn't need radiation, and they were they had to take it to a lot of um uh committees like um so they do uh I can't remember what the group's called, I think it's once a month or it might be once a week or whatever, and it's public and private um oncologists, surgeons, everything, and they sit and discuss people's cases. Um so my case was getting discussed regularly um as to whether radiation and I was hoping I didn't need radiation because I just wanted to get on with having my surgery and just getting on with the rest of my life. So I was gutted when they told me I needed the radiation, but I didn't question it because it was about me prolonging my life because you know, as I said, I turned 50 at the end of 2023, so that was my 50th birthday present for myself, a bit of cancer. Um but um you know that David turned 50 in the April, I turned 50 in the November, so it was a it was a big year. Um, but you know, um the aim of the game was to is to get to the end, isn't it? So you just do what you have to do.

Joshie 38:11

I'm amazed that you're able to keep up with your running goals during that time. I mean, uh understandably you would have had to have moderated your expectations about you know volume and pace during that time. But is there a particular event that you look back on during your treatment and go, that means something to me, like more than anything else? Do you look back on a particular thing?

Robyn 38:32

That 10k at the GC, um I said that it took me just uh it took me over an hour to do, but that was probably the hardest thing I have ever done, ever. And you know, for a 10k, um, but I yeah, as I said, that just took a lot out of me. And um, but you know, uh yeah, I don't know, that was that was probably the hardest race I've ever done. And and then doing the marathon six months after I finished all my treatment. Um I said that was that was for no one else, that one was for me because and everyone thought I was nuts, but I was like to prove, which I had nothing to prove to anyone or myself, but to prove to myself what I could do pre-cancer, I could do post-cancer. And I didn't care what the time was, like I wanted under four hours, and I was smashing it till 30k as we all do in a marathon, and then you hit 32k and you go, This is why I hate this. Um, but I I just loved that run so much. I enjoyed every minute of it, and when I got to 30, 32k, and I could I knew I wasn't gonna hit the four hours, I just went, Oh, okay, reassess. And I just thought, I'll get to a drink station, I'll walk into it, get a drink, walk out of it. And um, you know, I had David was on the like the last couple of K, uh, you know, he was on the corner talking to a couple, and that was what I needed to get me home. Um, and I just burst into tears as soon as I saw him. Um because he's been my my rock. Like he gets up at stupid o'clock and supports all those stupid running journeys, and um, never once said, What are you doing, or never once says, you know, um why or don't do it, or you know, um, he just gets up there, gets Nick to a start line, gets me to a start line, you know. Um and and he doesn't run. So, you know, um, and I think that's my running journey is I don't take anything too seriously. I've never put pressure on myself, I've never, I just um I give things a crack, but I don't I'm I don't think I've ever finished a race or ever anything where I've gone, you know, I'm disappointed. Because every day's a different day. Every race is different. Every some days you feel it, some days you don't. And I think that's why I enjoy it so much, because I don't I d I you know, if I if I PB it, that's great. If I don't, I don't. Um if I'm feeling good, I'm feeling good. If I'm not, I'm not.

Joshie 41:32

Like, um and so that's has that mindset, Robin, uh is that uh a new mindset since you've survived cancer, or did you have that? No, I've always been my best before you guys.

Robyn 41:44

My running career's winging it.

Joshie 41:46

Yeah.

Robyn 41:46

There's no there's not much training involved. There's not much. I don't know, I just and I think that's why I enjoy it because um and that's probably I've done three marathons, but I haven't I've probably got one more in me, I think. But um I can do half marathons and do a decent time with just on what I'm doing. And you know, if we're going to dinner, if I don't run the next day, I don't, you know, like I don't, I don't, I can't be someone that's stuck to a plan because I've got a family, I've got friends, I've got a husband who doesn't run that I love to death. And, you know, um, so if we're going away, you know, I'll chuck a run him, but there's no I'd like I don't want to be stuck to something and have that pressure and not enjoy it like I do. So yeah.

Joshie 42:40

But y it's 2026 now and you're starting to get quicker, like you're starting to get closer to the times that you were hitting before you got sick. Is that at all motivating you to run more? Or is it does it not make a difference?

Robyn 42:55

No, it doesn't make do I don't run anymore. I just go out there, give it a crack. As I said this morning, I, you know, I thought I'll do an easy run. I thought I was running about 25 and a half minute pace. I was under 25 minutes, so I thought, oh God, I'm gonna have to give this a crack now. So um and like I don't, you know, I my my PB pre-can like that year before I got the cancer was, you know, 5k was 22 minutes. Um I'm I'm not worried about getting back there. I said I'd my goal was to get back under 25 comfortably, and I feel like I'm getting there, and it actually probably motivates me a bit more because it becomes a bit more exciting that I'm not, that I feel like I'm, you know, it's getting easier again and I'm getting back there. But um, yeah, it doesn't um I just enjoy going out for my long run than I like, and I like doing it with people, and I like doing it alone as well, because I like uh d the solitude of it sometimes. It's you know, sometimes you need that more than anything.

Joshie 43:58

You're being quite balanced in your running goals moving forward. I think you said you've got a few half marathons lined up this year. 2027. Is that when you're sort of thinking you talked before about maybe having one more marathon left in your sights set on?

Robyn 44:14

Yeah, so I've got so I'm doing the um the Brizzy, the sunny coast, and the canned half this year. Doing a 10K tomorrow, doing Jetty to Jetty 10K. Um But yeah, I like I did even think, oh, maybe you know, if I just cracked up some Ks now, I could maybe get a half marathon by the end of the year. But um because that's pretty much how I do things. I just uh, you know, just wing it and throw it all together and hope for the best. But uh yeah, I I th I think maybe next year, um, if I'm, you know, feeling really good at the end of this year, um, I might give 'cause I'm yet to break the fall. I think my first half first marathon was 401. So Okay. And then in the brutal COVID year, the Sunshine Case was 420 something, and I think then my one after cancer was four seventeen or something like that. So um, but yeah, I'd like to get under four, but I'm you know.

Joshie 45:17

Yeah. Would you train, would you have a program, or is that just two programme?

Robyn 45:23

There's too much commitment involved for a program. I just sort of my my I just sort of um at least work it out. I start at about 20k and then just up it by 2k a week. And that's my that's as that as much of a program as I get. So and that way I'm gradually doing it without killing myself. Um and and I don't mind the runs up to about thirty after 30k, I that's where I start to struggle with, you know, when you're getting up over 30k, I'm just like, why am I doing this? This is horrible. This is why I run half marathons, not four marathons.

Joshie 46:02

So in terms of your life now, Robin, um, you're you're back working. Um, is life pretty much returned to normal for you?

Robyn 46:09

Yeah, yeah, it is. Um we're sort of, yeah, I'm back to, you know, working like I was pre-cancer, so three, three to four days a week. Um back in my old job again, because even when I came back from treatment, I didn't technically go back into my old job for another year because I still had another couple of surgeries to go, which were big surgeries, and um I was going to be off for months at a time. So just to give work the continuity of having the same person, I just sort of did a bit of a floating role. Um so yeah, so it was sort of two big years of just, you know, um, where we had to work our life around me and treatment and surgery. Um, but you know, we still, like at the end of 2023, for David's and my 30th, we went to uh 50th, God, I'm thinking I'm really young now, aren't I? Um for our 50ths, um, we went to Bali for Christmas. Um at the end, you know, so we still traveled and we still, you know, um do everything. But yeah, it it finally feels like, yeah, there's a little bit of normality has snuck back in. You know, I still see my surgeon, my oncologist, my radiation oncologist um regularly, every six months, and still have PET scans and everything done. Um and, you know, there's a little part of me that, you know, doesn't want to get too excited. Um, you know, it's always in the back of my mind in the sense that I suppose pre, you know, I had I was so fit, I was so healthy, I had no symptoms pre-cancer that when I start to feel as good as I do now, I sort of like, ugh, you know, like because there was no symptoms. And normally with cancer, unfortunately, by the time you have symptoms, you're too far gone. So I was very lucky um, because mine was fast growing. So they said it had probably only been there three to six months. And if I wouldn't have really done what it did when I did, if I if it would have been there probably another month or so, I could have been stage four and basically been palliative treatment, not active treatment to, you know, save my life. So, you know, it's amazing how just you know, going to the doctors and and and doing something straight away, even if you think it's nothing, um that saved my life, basically, because if I would have just been, oh well, don't worry about it, it's a fibroid, you know, um uh I would have been in a and and by me my cancer um has helped so many other people in my family because my sister's um was diagnosed with stage zero since then, um, and then all of all our family's been tested. And you know, my sister and my brother found out they carry the BRCAGene, my cousin found out her two siblings carry the BRACGEN. Two of my brothers' kids carry the gene, one of my sisters' kids carry it. So, you know, it's it's not a death sentence, it's but it's being, you know, educated and and actually for them being proactive now. And um so just by me having my cancer has made everyone else get tested and and find out early. If I would have known, you know, um earlier, I would have been having mammograms and stuff, you know, in my 20s, 30s, not you know, at just before I turned 50 and never had one because I didn't think you needed it until you were 50. Because we didn't know we had this big family history. So um, you know, there's positives out of it, see.

Joshie 50:08

Robin, through all the challenges that you've endured, what would you say that running and the community has meant to you during this time?

Robyn 50:17

Uh it it was everything, you know, I like I seriously said if I didn't have running, I don't think I would have got through what I did, like just mentally. And just the the the running community is phenomenal. Like, you know, and there's just everyone's so encouraging, you know, from parkrun to just and you know, some of the people that I've met just standing beside them at parkrun or standing beside them at different things have become really great friends of mine who, you know, um, and through roadrunners and everything. And I think it was really good for Nick too, like, because he had that support and that um, you know, and no one, no one, you know, had no one felt sorry. Like I didn't need any of that. It was just uh, it was the social thing. Um the year that I had cancer, I did one less parkrum than I've ever done. I just used to get up and so and for me, socially, it was what I needed because I was at home, you know, on my own a lot of time, a lot of the time during the week. Um, so to get out there and um and and just the the support you get is I don't think a lot of people I think people think the running community is you've got to be fast and you've got to, it's nothing like that. You know, there's people of all paces and personalities and all of that, and somehow you just all sort of gel and get along.

Joshie 51:49

You alluded to this just before, Robin, when talking about the positives that have come out of your experience with other people looking after their health. If you had to leave us with a final message or takeaway when it comes to health preventative measures, what would it be?

Robyn 52:06

I think being fit and healthy and actually just being aware of your body and aware of, you know, changes. Like, you know, we all don't run to the doctor every time we have a little ailment, and I'm one that certainly doesn't. Um, you know, I'm lucky to see my GP once a year, and it's normally for the flu injection. Um but yeah, just be in tune. And you know, the other thing is don't take life so seriously. Just just enjoy it. Like, you know, um you don't know what's around the corner, you really don't, and your life just can change in the blink of an eyelid, which it literally did for us. Um, you know, like we we weren't planning any of this. But you know, the positives is you you you know, you also the friendships you build through things like this, you realize the amazing people you've surrounded yourself with, you realise that, you know, you're doing something good because you've got only got good people in your life. Um and you know, maybe I'm lucky, I don't know. Um, but I don't know, just uh it makes you look at life differently and and just enjoy it because tomorrow could be a completely different day. And you know, you're just gonna have to dig deep and find something that you never you know, people always go, I don't know how you did it, but you'd be surprised what you can do.

Joshie 53:34

Robin, you really are amazing. Um, thanks so much for choosing to share your journey with us today.

Robyn 53:39

Thanks, Josh. Nice chatting to you.

Joshie 53:42

I sincerely hope you enjoyed listening to Robin's incredible tale of survival. For the record, Robin, if you're listening, I too think you're mad. But I think we all wish we could have a little bit of that madness. And certainly the resilience that goes along with it. You really are a superstar. And if you have a Run Believable story of your own, we'd truly love to hear it. And if you'd like to be a guest on the show, hit us up. Finally, this podcast relies on your continued support. So if you can please take a few moments to follow Ray and share it with your running mates, we'd really appreciate it. And we'll see you for the next Run Believable Adventure.

Robyn 54:20

But everything happens for a reason, and you know, you come out bigger and better and stronger, and I'll be whooping your ass at parkour next week. I'm coming for you, Josh. I'm coming for you.