Christine Whelan, FEO March 3, 2022, VOL. 3 ISSUE 14
I received a message a few weeks back from a local resident, Debb Leyland. “I have a great story about a Fort Erie couple for you to write. Danny and Bobby Huggins are two of the most inspiring, loving, positive people facing so many obstacles.”
According to Debb, who has gotten to know them, first on social media, then as she delivers produce from Small Scales Farms to their door, and finally as a friend, they live their lives to the fullest, despite the journey they are on.” She gave me brief details and their contact information, hoping the couple would agree to share their story.
They were happy to chat with me. It was an emotional surprise for Bobbi. She admitted, she’s not trying to be an inspiration. “That’s always been me. I’ve always been a very positive person, no matter what life throws at me. This is just me.”
And so their story began.
Bobbi was diagnosed with stage 3 lung cancer on February 28th, 2021.
“I thought, that is it; my life is over. It was the biggest shock. It just felt so surreal.” She began to recall, “At first, I was here at Douglas Memorial where they did a chest x-ray. I had to go in alone, without Danny, because of the virus restrictions. They gave me a steroid treatment and sent me home.” This was an annual appointment to help with her asthma.
“No sooner did I get home but the phone rang, ‘We need you to go to the Welland Hospital. The radiologist thinks he sees something on the x-ray and we need you to go get a CT scan. We need you to go there now. We will have everything sent there for you. They know you’re on your way.’
“So, we went to the Welland Hospital. Again, I had to go in by myself. After the CT scan, the doctor came in and confirmed I have cancer.”
She took a pausing breathe. “I will never forget this. The doctor at the hospital said, ‘You know what you have got to do Bobbi, you know Mohammad Ali? You need to put on your boxing gloves and fight like hell. This is going to be the biggest fight of your life.’ I hear that in my head a lot. And I will fight. I will never give up.”
And then her emotions came to the surface. “I don’t know if Debbie told you but, we just got the news. My husband’s been diagnosed with cancer.” Danny was diagnosed on January 28th with stage 3 esophageal cancer, throat cancer.
She made herself continue, “I keep telling him now, ‘Look, you have been my rock for the past year and you helped me stay strong and positive. Look at all the support that I have behind me. And now, it’s your turn to take my positivity. Take my strength. And we will get through this together.”
I knew her husband was right there with her, listening to it all over again.
“He will be starting his treatments next week and will be seven weeks of five days a week, for 35 treatments in total.”
Their treatment appointments conflict. “His treatments are up in Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton. Mine are at the Walker Cancer Centre in St. Catharines. I’m able to get Danny to his treatments but when mine start up and they overlap, that’s going to be another thing.”
We talked about the different community resources that are available to help with services such as rides to treatments. Bobbi and Danny are currently looking at their options.
They both had been working in commercial cleaning. Bobbi has been unable to work and Danny is now off work. To find ways to cope with the changes, meet important needs, and keep themselves busy, all in ways that are feasible, they have turned to social media.
Bobbi explained her routine of sharing posts on Facebook about how she will never give up, that she will conquer this.
When talking about the responding comments from the community to her posts, Danny added, “That’s the biggest part.”
Bobbi elaborated, “Knowing that I have so much love and support from the community, that’s what keeps me going. When I go for my treatments, I share it on Facebook and people respond with comments like, ‘You got this, Bobbi!’ or ‘Stay strong!’ reminding me they are with me.”
OUR TOWN’S DAILY RAY OF SUNSHINE
“We belong to that one group, Our Town,” Bobbi was referring to the Facebook group, Fort Erie – ‘Our Town’, “And I absolutely love it. A lot of people on there tell me how inspirational I am. But, in return, ‘Our Town’ has been so inspirational for me, helping me through my battle, to stay possible and stay strong.
“Every morning, I look forward to getting on there and saying good morning to people like Jan Doan and Ken Williams.” She shared that Jan has taken them out to dinner, so they have met.
“We connect with them every single day. We all share what’s going on in our lives. We say good night to them, sweet dreams.”
Bobbi and Danny share a profile. “Ever since the day I was diagnosed, Danny puts on our Facebook profile, ‘My daily ray of sunshine’, with a picture of me every day. He’s done this every single day and he says that he will continue until I beat cancer. And now Our Town has taken that further. I am called ‘Our Town’s Sunshine Girl’. I bring a ray of sunshine no matter what is going on in Fort Erie, no matter what the weather is.”
The couple is so grateful. “We really appreciate it. It means so much to us. Their support really builds me up. I might not know a lot of these people to see them face to face, but it feels like they are all true, close friends to us. I feel that I can turn to them and talk to them.”
She shared with light laughter how people now recognize her at the grocery store. “People see me, come up to me and ask, “D and B Huggins? I know it’s from Facebook because that’s our name on it.” Combined, they are Dandb Huggins.
Bobbi, who is originally from St. Catharines, has lived in Fort Erie for 14 years. Danny was born and raised in Fort Erie.
“When I met my husband, I moved to Fort Erie. I even got my now-82-year-old Mom to move here. She’s been here for 12 years now.” Bobbi has three grown children who live in the St. Catharines area.
YES, THERE ARE BAD DAYS
Bobbi is human. She does have her bad days but she doesn’t really put too much thought into those moments. “Everybody says I deal with things so differently. It’s just me.
“During those moments, I’ll just sit here and start crying. Danny will ask me what’s wrong. I just tell him I need a good cry. It’s not that I’m getting down. Don’t take my crying as a sign of weakness. I need to cry just to let everything out once in a while. But I will never, ever give in. I will beat this. I have so much to live for. I’m too young.” Bobbi is 52 years old and Danny is 62 years old.
IMMUNOTHERAPY
“Right now, I’m doing a treatment called immunotherapy. I did my chemotherapy and my radiation. And it knocked the crap out of me. It was very intense. I ended up in the hospital for, I think, five weeks.”
To try immunotherapy, the doctors had to feel that Bobbi was strong enough to endure this type of treatment. “At the time, they didn’t think I was going to qualify for it. But, within two weeks of being in the hospital, receiving medical attention including blood transfusions, I managed to bounce back.”
There were added complications. “I got this really bad infection and they brought doctors in from Toronto, Infectious Disease Specialists, and through different antibiotics, I started getting stronger and stronger and I qualified.”
Bobbi explained, “Immunotherapy is very similar to chemo but it’s not as hard on the body. What it does is it boosts your immune system. I call it a super juice,” laughing. “It boosts my own system so that my body is fighting off cancer.
There is a risk and she is monitored. “But it can work so well that it could start attacking my organs. My liver, my kidneys. I have to go for blood work every week to check all my levels to make sure my liver isn’t shutting down or my kidneys aren’t shutting down.”
And how is it working? “Knock on wood, so far, I’ve been doing amazingly. I’m responding to the treatments very, very well.
Bobbi can check her blood work results online after going for her weekly blood work. “Hopefully all my results are good. It allows me to go for my next treatment. If my numbers are low or too high, I can’t go.”
Her ability to move forward with her treatment depends on her. “So, that when I go on Facebook and tell everyone, ‘Ok, I did it. My blood work is all good. I’m going for my next treatment.'” And everyone is there with her, going through it together.
Bobbi and Danny are very grateful for Debb Leyland. “She’s done a lot for us. She delivers for Small Scale Farms (SSF). She and Bill Mutch have come by just out of the blue and brought bags of fresh produce from (SSF). I make sure I post thank you’s on Facebook.”
Bobbi shared something she is looking forward to. “I have been talking with some members on Our Town. We want to plan a get together for when the weather starts to warm up and after the pandemic stuff is done, whether it be a barbeque or potluck, maybe down by the river or the Old Fort, so that the people of Our Town can actually meet in person. We can then actually put some faces and voices to these people we consider close friends.”
TALKING ABOUT CANCER
Bobbi commented, “You hear all the time, that cancer affects everybody. We all know somebody who has cancer. We never think it’s going to happen to ourselves.”
“With our shared Facebook page,” Danny said, “we are trying to bring awareness to other people of what this disease does.”
He continued, “I think one thing people don’t know about cancer is, there’s no sure sign of it. It can sneak up on you.” He explained, “Like with Bobbi,” turning to his wife, “Your’s was a cough. A little cough. Mine was an earache. Over five months, the doctors were giving me antibiotics and trying to figure out what was making my ear ache. Finally, the specialist told me I had cancer.” Danny’s earache was caused by a lesion on his throat, giving him a false sense of having an ear infection.
“So, there’s no sure sign. And that’s why I put a lot of posts on Facebook to let people know, if you do have persistent pain, go get it checked.”
Bobbi described how there are times when she is going in for her treatment, while waiting, someone who has just been diagnosed will walk in and the nurse would walk them over to sit next to her, explaining that she is a very positive person and hinting that it might do them some good to talk with her.
“When I think of someone with cancer, I think of someone who is very frail, sick looking.” She admitted, “But, for somebody to look at me right now, and not know my story, they wouldn’t know I was battling cancer right now. I don’t look sick. And I think that has a lot to do with my positive attitude. I believe its the positive attitude that is keeping me strong, giving me the determination to beat this. I feel, with all the love and support coming from this small town, I have no choice but to beat this.”
ANOTHER SURPRISE FOR DANNY AND BOBBI
“This morning, a friend of ours, Donna Poirier, contacted us to tell us she has updated a GoFundMe page that she started when I was first diagnosed with cancer. It didn’t really go anywhere then. The page had raised a few hundred dollars to help out a little. But she now has added Danny and updated our stories. She sent me the link and suggested I share it, now that Danny can’t work either.”
If you would like to contribute to the Double Hit! Fort Erie family, one of our own, needs our help GoFundMe campaign, you can find the page at www.gofundme.com/f/Fort-Erie-Family-one-of-our-own-needs-our-help
To connect with Bobbi and Danny, look for Dandb Huggins on Facebook, on Fort Erie – “Our Town”. Just follow that ray of sunshine.
