Jeff Ber, Draws on Odds-Defying Recovery Story to Inspire Others

Thanks to 30 years worth of progress in the detection and treatment of cancer -- not to mention the benefits yielded by educational efforts geared toward informing the public about strategies for prevention --Americans diagnosed with cancer today can approach treatment with a tremendous sense of optimism while armed with the knowledge that the national cancer mortality rate has steadily declined over the past three decades.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the overall cancer death rate in the United States has decreased since the early 1990s. This improvement in the outcome for patients diagnosed with cancer continues to inspire hope around the world for those facing even the longest of odds -- including patients diagnosed with a terminal form of the disease.

A few years ago, Jeff Ber of Calgary, Canada was diagnosed with terminal testicular cancer.
Recent statistics from the American Cancer Society suggest that approximately 410 deaths from testicular cancer will occur this year alone. In Canada the prediction is much lower; an estimated 45 men will die from the disease according to the Canadian Cancer Society. Yet despite this low estimate, for Ber, becoming one of those 45 men was a strong possibility.

Instead of dwelling on the odds of his diagnosis, Jeff Ber decided to do everything he could to conquer them. He endured four major surgeries, chemotherapy, and multiple stem cell transplants while living in the hospital for a period of time lasting almost two full years. Despite the terminal diagnosis, Ber adopted an enthusiastic and optimistic approach to the treatment protocols recommended by doctors in both the United States and Canada, with the support and encouragement of his mother, father, and two sisters. His treatment was a resounding success, and today Ber lives cancer-free, contributing his time as a volunteer for Oneball, a Calgary-based charity that works to destigmatize men’s health issues.

Having defied the threat of terminal cancer, Ber is now committed to an active lifestyle that he hopes will inspire others currently enduring the lengthy and challenging road to recovery from cancer. An avid runner and cyclist, Ber could have easily eschewed such pursuits while pointing out that one of the chemotherapy drugs included in his treatment protocol, Bleomycin, damages the lungs.

Rather than giving up on competing in endurance-based sports, Ber instead decided to approach endurance training with the same resolve and enthusiasm that helped him defeat a terminal cancer diagnosis. Now fully recovered, Ber is a paragon of physical fitness who regularly competes in all manner of endurance events. In recent months, for example, Ber finished the 10k Race for Alzheimer’s in a time of 50 minutes and 32 seconds, good for 17th place in a competitive field featuring close to 200 runners.

Ber, a former senior investment advisor, also recently competed in and won the One Cycle Spin Studios 40-Day Challenge, an impressive accomplishment that would inspire feelings of pride in anyone, especially someone whose lungs sustained serious damage while undergoing chemotherapy. Perhaps it’s no surprise that Ber expresses a sense of pride while reflecting on such an accomplishment, but he is quick to note that his feelings of pride are rooted in the knowledge that his athletic achievements may ultimately serve as proof that a terminal cancer diagnosis can be overcome.

“With the amount and type of chemotherapy I underwent, my doctors told me it would be impossible to get my health and fitness back,” recalled Ber. “I refused to accept this as an impossibility, and I decided that fighting back with the goal of returning to competition could serve as inspiration for others facing a similar cancer diagnosis or enduring a lengthy recovery process.”

For the almost 1.7 million Americans (according to the most recent estimates from the American Cancer Society) who will be diagnosed with cancer in 2017, the advances made in treatment and the example set by cancer survivors like Ber provide ample reason for optimism -- even in the face of the longest of odds.