[00:00:00] Adam Walker: From Susan G Komen, this is Real Pink. exploring real stories, struggles, and triumphs related to breast cancer. We’re taking the conversation from the doctor’s office to your living room.
[00:00:17] Today’s guest is a mom of three young girls, a firefighter, and a contestant from season 36 of the amazing race. The first found out she had lumps in her breasts from a pre taping required physical for the show. After competing on the amazing race and returning home, 36 year old Bizzy Smith had a long road of self advocacy ahead of her, before finally receiving the breast MRI that diagnosed her breast cancer.
[00:00:40] Bizzy is here today to help raise breast cancer awareness for younger women and to keep it real with topics like talking to her daughters about the changes in her body. still wanting to feel sexy and how she’s been able to stay connected to her husband. Her positive spin on life has made all the difference and we’re thrilled to have her on the show today to share her story.
[00:01:00] Bizzy. Welcome to the show.
[00:01:03] Bizzy Smith: Thank you so much. I’m so grateful to be here and share my story. I think it’s a good one.
[00:01:08] Adam Walker: Yeah, I think so too, and a rather unique one in that you, you know, found it during pre taping pre taping that’s pretty unusual, I would think, so.
[00:01:19] Bizzy Smith: Yeah I would not have gone to get myself a physical out of the blue, and I think that’s a really important message to send.
[00:01:27] Adam Walker: Start with your diagnosis story, walk us through that whole thing, the pre show, all the stuff.
[00:01:32] Bizzy Smith: Okay, so I was Reached out to to do the amazing race with another female firefighter mom, and we were selected after a outstanding audition video and I
[00:01:46] Adam Walker: love it. I love
[00:01:48] Bizzy Smith: it. And this was like a big process to be on TV.
[00:01:53] There’s physicals, there’s psychological tests you have to take. You have to pass background checks. And so I went to do this physical for the show. And like I said before, like I wouldn’t have ordinarily gone to get myself a physical at 36 years old out of the blue I had, my daughter was almost one years old, so I kind of went through.
[00:02:16] The post pregnancy check. And I just, didn’t feel like I was due for a physical at this time. So I went to do a physical and this was like in August of 2022. And I, I noticed the lumps and I had mastitis throughout that last pregnancy with my last daughter. And I was, my doctor was a little concerned, but not really.
[00:02:45] He’s like, okay, well, I’ll sign you off for the show, but let’s, you know, let’s follow up when you get back. If it still bothers you, if they’re still there. And I’m like, oh, okay. So I went and ran the show and it ended up bothering me a lot. Particularly was when I was on the show. Because my partner that was racing with me was nursing at the time.
[00:03:07] So she was pumping, we were talking about breastfeeding and pumping a lot during the show. And I was like, you know what? I got these lumps that my doctor noticed and the physical. And, she’s like, you got to get those, you got to get those checked up. I’m like, I’m only 36. I’m the pinnacle of health.
[00:03:26] You know I, work out six days a week. I, you know, eat pretty much vegan like, and I ended up being a breast cancer patient.
[00:03:39] Adam Walker: Wow. Wow. That’s a, that’s pretty wide. And then, so walk us through that process as well. I mean, like, cause I understand, like you had to sort of push to get the testing you need.
[00:03:51] Like, how did that all work out for you?
[00:03:53] Bizzy Smith: So when I got back from filming the amazing race in late 2022. I started my diagnostic journey, which was extensively long and painful with red tape. Even though my mom had breast cancer, she didn’t have breast cancer till age 60. And, if she was diagnosed with breast cancer, which she probably had at age 59, if she was diagnosed at 59, that would have put me in a higher risk category.
[00:04:25] So
[00:04:26] Adam Walker: it’s
[00:04:26] Bizzy Smith: just, it was just a whole bunch of. Me getting tried, like doctors trying to fit me into a box that doesn’t fit everybody. And so I, here I was this young, younger woman with dense breast tissue without an high risk, but a breast, but I had breast cancer this entire time. So I had a, I had two clean ultrasounds and six months apart.
[00:04:53] And then I had a clean mammogram. I finally got one of the doctors out of four doctors. To sign me off on a mammogram four years early because you typically don’t get them until you’re 40 years old and then I Those were all clean. This was about a year and a half and then I had a breast surgeon I said, you know what?
[00:05:15] I don’t care if it’s not cancer or these tests don’t show that it’s cancer I want these lumps out of my left breast I don’t like it when my husband touches it. It makes me cringey. Like I just don’t like it I don’t care that it’s not cancer. I just want them gone. And I had a breast surgeon tell me she wasn’t going to operate on me out of vanity.
[00:05:39] Wow. And she was the one who actually had to call me to tell me that I had breast cancer. So
[00:05:47] Adam Walker: that was
[00:05:47] Bizzy Smith: an interesting conversation.
[00:05:50] Adam Walker: And you were like, I told you
[00:05:51] Bizzy Smith: once I got through the mammogram and the ultrasound and. The denial of the surgery, I had some new symptoms come up and all of a sudden my left breast actually started leaking.
[00:06:01] And this was like a year and a half after I started my diagnostic journey. I started getting this sticky orange substance coming out of my left breast and then it like reignited. I had almost given up at that point and it reignited my diagnostic journey. And I still had four doctors. I said, please.
[00:06:24] Someone decide whose doctor I am, or whose patient I am, I need to get an MRI. And I didn’t even know I needed an MRI. That was just something like, that was just something I learned in breast cancer boot camp.
[00:06:39] Adam Walker: Right, right, right.
[00:06:40] Bizzy Smith: Like that I needed to get this, high image testing done. And he, they called me within an hour and told me that I had breast cancer.
[00:06:49] So that’s literally all I needed. And I probably only needed an MRI for a month and a half, but there was so much red tape, so much insurance. It costs like, it costs 7, 800 for an MRI without insurance.
[00:07:02] Adam Walker: Oh man. That is, that’s brutal right there. You can get a decent car for that. So,
[00:07:09] Bizzy Smith: so I, I like, I’m like, My husband was even like sick to the point where he’s like, you’re going to go get another test.
[00:07:15] You’re going to, you’ve got all these doctors telling you that everything’s fine and you’re going to go pay 150 co pay for another test. And you know, that 150 saved my life.
[00:07:27] Adam Walker: Yeah. Love that. I mean, how were you able to stay persistent through all of that? I mean, like you said, like you almost gave up and then this happened and then like, like what, why, what kept you going?
[00:07:38] Yeah.
[00:07:40] Bizzy Smith: I don’t know. I think like, honestly, like I’m, really into like my body. I’m really into health and fitness. And, you know I noticed myself kind of pulling away from my husband. Like I said, I didn’t want him touching me on that side. And it was just like, You know, this has become a hindrance on my life in more ways than one.
[00:08:06] And then, I don’t know. I just, there was something in my gut that said, this is not right. And. You need to get it, you need to get this fixed is what my bottom line was and that is just so true. And what I want to share with like this audience primarily is doctors can be wrong.
[00:08:30] Adam Walker: Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.
[00:08:31] Yeah, that’s right.
[00:08:32] Bizzy Smith: And you need to listen to your inner gut. And I think a lot of that came out as just being a mom. Yeah. It’s like
[00:08:43] Adam Walker: You, know, it gives you some fight. Being a mom get puts some fight in you, doesn’t it? It does
[00:08:47] Bizzy Smith: show a sha with a lot of fight in me. . Like, like I tell these guy, I tell my, these guys at the firehouse, I’m like, it’s way tougher at home.
[00:08:57] I’d much rather be going into that fire and saving a cat. , you know,
[00:09:05] Adam Walker: you might be the first mom that’s ever said that, I’m. But I’m aware of that. I like it. I like it. Yeah, I understand. I’ve got a, I’ve got a gaggle of kids myself. I do. I do understand. So talk a little bit like, okay, so you fought you finally get diagnosed, what were some of the struggles that you experienced after that?
[00:09:30] Bizzy Smith: That was easily the, and I think for most cancer patients, it was, it’s the hardest, couple days to couple weeks of your life. After, your diagnosis, before maybe your biopsies, before your bone scans, that, that ripped, it literally ripped me apart. I thought there were the first MRI, they noticed like a spot on my sternum that they wanted to look at.
[00:10:02] And so after they told me I had breast cancer and before my clean bone scan, I thought I had metastatic breast cancer at 36 years old and have a, you know, one year old. And so it was so challenging and. You know, it’s hard on the spouse too. It’s like you’re actually asking your spouse to live by their vows, you know, and say, Oh, in sickness and in health, like, come on, you got to step up now.
[00:10:30] This is the sickness part. And, you know, so that was hard on him to kind of take it on. And it was, insane. And then once like the actual diagnostic testing started rolling in, we got the biopsy results. We got clean bone scan. You know, then I’m like, Hey, it’s not in my bones. Like, this is a good sign.
[00:10:56] Like we can figure this out. I can get through this. I’m pretty healthy as is. So it’s like, okay we got a fighting chance here. And that has been the greatest gift. I look at life completely different now that I’ve beaten breast
cancer as of. January 16th, 2024. And it has given me, it, it really is, my cancer diagnosis has been a gift.
[00:11:24] Adam Walker: Yeah, I’m sure it just completely reframes everything. It does. Such a huge way. Yeah. Now, and I mentioned this in the intro. I want, I wanted to touch base on it in our conversation. You mentioned You wanted to continue to feel sexy in what felt like a defeminizing process for you. So walk us through those feelings and what it meant for you in terms of some of your personal decisions.
[00:11:46] Bizzy Smith: So, I I always had smaller breasts and I think that is telling in itself that I had dense breast tissue. And so, number one, if you have dense breast tissue and breast issues, like, you have to get that looked at further. But, I had small breasts and so when I had the opportunity, To get implants. I thought, this is amazing.
[00:12:09] I can feel, you know, I’ll finally get the boobs. I dreamed of
[00:12:15] although that’s
[00:12:15] Adam Walker: looking at the bright side for you.
[00:12:17] Bizzy Smith: Okay. . I’m just like I can get implants without like, you know, you think like, oh that girl she wants implants. Like that’s, you know, that’s something. You know, you know it has a, negative connotation in society, unfortunately, I’m a, but I’m a fan of boobs and I wanted big, I wanted to upgrade my honkers.
[00:12:39] So I upgraded and, it feels good, but they’re a little more than I, I think I bit off a little more than I can chew. So to continue to feel sexy, like I think it’s important that you treat yourself like you would not being a cancer patient, like, like I bought myself fancy bras, you know, I, you know, of course I looked for a sale, you know, Amazon prime day we just had.
[00:13:14] So. You know I would buy myself, like I would buy myself extensions. I would go get my nails done. I would like kind of do this other stuff, even though I didn’t feel great after my double mastectomy, I did things that I would have ordinarily done anyway to make sure, like, I felt good about myself, even though.
[00:13:37] I had drain tubes coming out of my body and smelt like tacos.
[00:13:43] Adam Walker: It’s important to feel good about yourself. That’s good. You gotta get that self care. It’s really important.
[00:13:48] Bizzy Smith: And then as far as like intimacy with my husband goes, I just feel like we had an open conversation about it. It’s like, Hey, he’s a boob man.
[00:13:59] He’s a boob man. And I got, I have, you know, expanders and right now let’s work with what we got. Let’s work with what we got. And it made him comfortable. It’s like, you can touch him if you want, like, just like open communication to what you’re comfortable with. And there are other things you can do, you know, sexually that with your partner, that it doesn’t have to involve your top half at all.
[00:14:25] Adam Walker: Fair. So
[00:14:27] Bizzy Smith: I encourage women. to embrace different avenues of intimacy.
[00:14:36] Adam Walker: That’s really good advice. Very good advice. All right. So, so shifting gears because you mentioned, talked about your husband and I’m glad you’re having that great connection there. Let’s talk about your daughters here for a second. So I understand you’ve got three daughters.
[00:14:52] Did seeing three, did seeing things through their eyes change your approach at all? And have you talked to them about the changes that they’ve seen you go through?
[00:15:02] Bizzy Smith: Yes. My cancer diagnosis gave me a, the most clear window, to being a mom. And it has changed my life in such an amazing way. That I get to continue to be their mother.
[00:15:25] I get to. I get to, you know, clean their diapers every day. I get to walk them to school when they’re late. You know, I get to pack lunches and, you know, it’s just been, it’s changing my vocabulary from I have to, to I get to has been, given me a new life. I have a new life. And that’s why I want to go back on the amazing race so I can, win with my new life.
[00:15:56] Adam Walker: I like that. I love that. I would watch that season. That sounds like a plan. Let’s do that. Is there like a, petition we can sign for that? I
[00:16:04] Bizzy Smith: know. Cause I didn’t, I did not win the million dollars the first go around. So I’m hoping that I’ll get back on the race and I’ll be able to win. I
[00:16:13] Adam Walker: guess I guess the real question is if you didn’t win the million dollars, but did you have fun on the rate?
[00:16:20] That’s
[00:16:20] Bizzy Smith: I had such a great time. It was such a great experience. I’m so I’m grateful for that experience too. But I’m most grateful now that I have this platform. To, to talk to women about breast cancer and being a healthcare advocate for yourself and being as sexy as hell, even though your boobs may not look the same
[00:16:45] Adam Walker: Bizzy.
[00:16:45] I love your attitude, all things about it, but the fun and the serious your attitude and your positivity is so important. So talk a little bit about that. Like, how do you maintain. That positive mindset through, I mean, through the hard times and even now through the good ones.
[00:17:02] Bizzy Smith: So it, it really was like such a gift for me to get certain to take my small successes and, turn them into parties.
[00:17:13] Like I got my genetic testing back. It turns out like I don’t have any BRCA mutation, which some patients deal with. We had a party, To celebrate that I didn’t have any, you know, gene mutations that would pass on to my daughters. And then we had a party when I had the clean bone scan. We had a party when I made it through surgery, you know, just like celebrating those little things in life.
[00:17:41] And a lot of it’s like fake it till you make it put a smile on your face. Like I don’t care, you know, if you can make someone else smile, like while you’re going through something like this, that is, that’s, it’s a gift to you. Like you get that in return. And
[00:17:59] Adam Walker: it
[00:17:59] Bizzy Smith: really is. And like, like I. Touched on before it’s changing that word.
[00:18:04] Like I have to do this today too. I get to do this today has been. Since cancer, that has been my outlook on life and I will never go back to, I have to pick up this dog poop, like, you know, I will never, go back to like thinking that like, I’m like, I get to be walking my dog outside today with my kids.
[00:18:29] This is fab. This is fantastic.
[00:18:31] Adam Walker: I’m gonna have to remember that I did have to pick up dog poop inside of my house today. I don’t I was, thinking have to at that, I was not happy at that moment. So that’s a tough get to moment right there.
[00:18:46] The next time. Hopefully there’s not one, but the next time it happens, I will be thinking of you for sure. And I’ll be like, I get to pick up dog poop today. It’s going to be great. It’s going to be great that they’re ruining the carpet. So yeah, exactly. All right. Bizzy last, question for you. Do you have any final thoughts, any advice that you’d like to share with our listeners?
[00:19:08] Bizzy Smith: I do. I changed my mind a lot through this process and what I wanted the outcome to be. Specifically with like the plastic surgery and how I wanted to look and I just want people to know like, it’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to stop and think about it. Most surgeries, you know, besides like the mastectomy, like cancer clearing surgeries, most surgeries can be put off until you figured stuff out, you know?
[00:19:38] So That’s something I’ve really struggled with was making decisions like through this process and a lot of decisions are made, you know, for you. Like I had to get radiation and that changed. That changed plastic surgery for me down the road. So, I just want people to make decisions that make you happy, I think is the most important thing I wanted to get across.
[00:20:02] And then, the other thing is, it was expensive for me to go on this diagnostic journey.
[00:20:08] Adam Walker: Like I said,
[00:20:10] Bizzy Smith: that MRI cost 150. But it’s the it was like that 150 saved my life.
[00:20:19] Adam Walker: Yeah, it did.
[00:20:19] Bizzy Smith: So if you need help financially, like that’s my goal is to help people get the diagnostic testing that they need. I suggest you reach out to Susan G Komen.
[00:20:32] There are so many places that will help you get these paid for.
[00:20:36] Adam Walker: That’s right.
[00:20:37] Bizzy Smith: And don’t let cost of testing Hold you back from getting tested.
[00:20:44] Adam Walker: That’s right. That’s fantastic advice. Bizzy. You are an inspiration. If there is a petition to get you back on amazing race, you let me know. I will sign it today.
[00:20:53] Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us on the show today.
[00:20:56] Bizzy Smith: Yeah, pleasure to be here. I can’t wait to do the, walk. I will here in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin, the walk will be September 22nd, but I’m sure you can find a walk near you.
[00:21:06] Adam Walker: That’s right. Get on that. Do it. Do it. It’s going to be great. Thanks, Bizzy.
[00:21:15] Thanks for listening to Real Pink, a weekly podcast by Susan G Komen. For more episodes, visit realpink. komen. org. For more on breast cancer, visit komen. org. Make sure to check out at Susan G Komen on social media. I’m your host Adam. You can find me on Twitter at AJ Walker or on my blog adamjwalker. com