Jo Butterfield is a consistently buoyant athlete and today is no different despite her mixed emotions about two pivotal milestones, 900 days to go to the Milan-Cortina Paralympic Games in 2026 and two days to go until she starts chemotherapy.
“It’s the usual story really I think, I just found a lump,” revealed the 44 year old.
She explains that this had happened before, but this one stayed around and she knew she needed to see her GP. Within a week she was getting a mammogram and a week after that she received her diagnosis, on 24th August.
“I am due to start my chemotherapy on Wednesday (20 September) and they are being really quick with everything, which in itself, is good and bad,” she said.
“It shows it is serious but I cannot fault the NHS at all, they have been all over it. It is quite a large lump – about 6 centimetres but thankfully it has not spread, so the plan is for chemotherapy for five months.
“Without a doubt what I have been through previously has strengthened me for this. I am not going to lie it did knock me more than I realised and it did come as a shock to me and I think especially waiting for the results was really quite hard.
“But as soon as I found out it was treatable, it was very much, ok well I have been through tough times before and I have thrived through the tough times, so let’s get on with it, let’s beat it and let’s get out the other side.”
The former British Army civil servant has repeatedly proven her resilience after life changing surgery to remove a spinal tumour back in 2011 left her paralysed from the chest down.
However, she would re-focus that military discipline into an elite athlete mindset and her tenacity and perseverance paid off, earning her a place in sporting history and atop the podium at the Rio Paralympics 2016 after winning gold in club throw, the Paralympic version of the hammer event.
Butterfield was awarded an MBE in 2017 for her services to athletics and after Tokyo 2022 she switched to wheelchair curling in which, earlier this year, she added a world wheelchair curling bronze medal to her world gold and bronze club throw and discus medals in 2015 and two European gold medals either side of those.
However, she knows it is the collective team spirit that will bolster her determination in the weeks and months ahead.
“Team Jo B, I really cannot thank them enough,” she said.
“From Rhiannon (Jo’s wife), to family, to friends, to British Curling and all my team mates. They are what hold me together just now and I can’t explain how the last few weeks have been, but coming into training is the only time I have not thought about breast cancer. I have thought about curling, I have thought about Jo the athlete.
“Having that support, having that change of scenery around me has been so positive. So at the same time this is a big thing going on, having those people and the sport around me has just taken the pressure off, made me continue to just be myself and not think about cancer.
“The plan hasn’t changed and my mindset is 100% I want to be a Paralympic gold medallist at Milan Cortina.
“Every day I wake up as I have done for the last however many years, I ask myself what can I do today to help that happen?
“For the next wee while, I will continue looking at what I can do today to make that happen and to get well, to follow the doctors’ advice and to do the things that I need to in order to get well, as that is going to help me ultimately win a gold medal in Milan.
“So, the focus has had to change slightly and I don’t know what tomorrow or the next week is going to look like or how healthy am I going to be, but my plan, which will probably change a few times, is to try and train as much as possible.
“I will do what I can when I can, as much as I can. I have told my team mates to not stand easy, they need to keep going and they need to know that I am going to be champing at the bit to get my spot on that starting line-up in 2026.
“So as much as possible I will be coming in and out of the NCA and British Curling have been fantastic at making sure we are following good hygiene protocols as my immunity will be quite low, so we have a good plan in practice. 
“Covid gave us a good template and hopefully, as much as I possible, I will be training. Obviously my competition options will be limited but I will take it one day at a time.
“I have had to go through life changing experiences before and I realised then, if you don’t get going yourself no-one is going to do it for you.
“I guess it started as I had two older brothers and I had to fight for everything. I have always been very competitive and very stubborn, so if someone tells me I can’t do something I will try my hardest to prove them wrong. I suppose it is that kind of attitude, someone tells you that cancer has come looking, my response is well I am going to beat it then.
“I think this one is different in that I realise I cannot do this by myself and that team is really important.”
Butterfield is passionate about everything she applies herself to and her advice to others could not be clearer.
“Let’s not shy away from things. If we try and bury our head in the sand it’s not going to go away. So check yourself constantly and if you find anything that you are not sure about go to the doctors. My experience is that the professionals have been superb with me and I cannot thank them enough so I would urge anyone out there to get it seen and get moving with it.”
Her ambition to be the first GB Paralympian to have gold medals from both a summer and winter Games remains unabated.
“My mantra is never give up. I go into schools and I talk to the kids and that’s the key point I always bring up.
“That is one thing I think to myself every day whether it is struggling to pick a pen up from the floor or trying shot in curling or beating cancer. If you don’t give up you are never going to lose, whereas if you stop and you give up you have already lost.
“Family are the most important thing. Sport is important. Sport is a big part of who I am. This has taught me and reminded me that there is more to sporting life and family comes first, but of course sport to me comes a close second.
“900 days to go to the Paralympics. That has been my focus since Tokyo – the next one. So on a hard day, whether that is training, or whether that is chemo.
“The hard days are the real test and the reason why you must get back up and keep going because in 900 days I am going to be there in Milan competing for that gold medal.”
Images: ParalympicsGB and World Curling Federation/Cheyenne Boone.
