Curler’s Paralympic dream alive after ‘eye-opening’ cancer

“I was really shocked by the potential of it being life-ending.”

When Jo Butterfield was about to receive a breast cancer diagnosis in September of this year, she was set to begin her second season as a wheelchair curler.

She was immediately put on a 16-week course of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery, after discovering a lump within weeks.

The 2016 Paralympics throw champion says her elite athlete mentality kept her going even when she had to deal with the effects of the treatment, which made her sluggish and prone to infection.

Butterfield was paralyzed from the waist down during a spinal tumor operation a year earlier, but she claims her cancer diagnosis caused more anxiety.

According to Butterfield, who switched from para-sports to curling in 2022, “I have some innate strength and resilience, but this one knocked me out harder than ever.”

“This has happened, I can’t change it, but I’m still here, so let’s get on with it and make life brilliant,” said one person who was seriously about the spinal injury.

“The breast cancer was more terrifying. My family, friends, and team really rallied me through.

The 45-year-old claims she is now “in a good place” for the Wheelchair Curling World Championships, which will begin in Stevenston, North Ayrshire, on Saturday despite ongoing immunotherapy.

The Yorkshire-born athlete’s ultimate goal is to become the first Briton to win gold at both a summer and winter paralympics. She trained with the rest of the Scotland squad in Stirling throughout her treatment.

She says that having the opportunity to visit the training facility once per week gave me something else to focus on besides cancer.

“Jo the athlete” was me here. We could shoot some stones and forget what was happening in the background, just like we always do.

Butterfield’s Scotland team has one more chance than ever to earn qualification points before the Winter Paralympics in 2020 at this week’s Worlds.

She will compete alongside Karen Aspey, Julian Mattison, Gary Smith, fellow Paralympians Hugh Nibloe, and Austin McKenzie, who is also a bronze medalist from Sochi, while Stewart Pimblett will lead England along with Karen Aspey, Julian Mattison, and Jason Kean.

The round-robin games will continue until March 6 – a year before the 2026 Winter Paralympics in Italy, before play-offs and semi-finals on 7 March and the final on 8 March. They will be followed by Canada, China, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Norway, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United States.

The mixed doubles will be held from 11 to 16 March following the team event, which will debut at the Paralympics in Milan-Cortina in 2017.

Scotland are in good shape to qualify for the team event, but Nibloe and Charlotte McKenna’s mixed doubles team will need a strong performance to advance to the next competition.

Although attending a World Championships once more “almost feels like a gold medal,” Butterfield’s Paralympic dream still persists.

Although there has been a “speed bump,” she claims, “winning gold in Italy is still the ultimate goal.”

Every day, I put in a lot of effort to make it happen, and our team is really strong together.

“I feel strong and good.” Every day, I feel strong, and I feel good.

“It’s very fortunate to be sitting here because I discovered this might not be possible.”