Facing the storm: A journey with cancer in the mortgage industry

They say that while other animals run in the opposite direction when dark clouds gather, buffalo herds turn towards the brewing storm and run through it as it breaks.

The idea is that by charging directly into the tempest, buffaloes come out quicker on the other side – while other animals, running with it, end up getting wetter.

It’s a lesson that Christine Buemann (pictured top) drew upon when confronted with the biggest storm of her own life last year: diagnosis with an advanced and complicated form of breast cancer whose treatment looked set to be aggressive, lengthy, and gruelling.

At first, Buemann was told to prepare for the possibility of not being treated at all. Private testing had shown that the Stage 3 cancer had metastasized throughout her chest and under her breastbone – a challenging part of the body that’s difficult or impossible to operate on, she said.

Finally – and to her relief – she was presented with two options. Both were daunting: either four months of chemotherapy on one type of chemo every second week, or six months of aggressive chemo on three different types, starting every week.

That choice was better than none whatsoever – but there were still plenty of considerations to chew over, Buemann said, especially with the treatment’s success by no means a surefire thing.

“At first I thought, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do the most aggressive one,’” she said. “But there’s a point where you think, ‘If this is going to be the end of my life, there’s a quality-of-life consideration as well.’ Going into this, I didn’t even take Tylenol – so I thought, ‘With these chemicals, how am I going to feel?’”

Buemann turned to the story of the buffalo, deciding to confront the storm head-on and opt for the path that might seem the most trying, but ultimately offered the best chance of coming out on the other side.

A punishing six months of chemotherapy began in January and concluded just weeks ago, with side effects of the aggressive measure including hair loss and possibly more serious developments such as diabetes, leukemia, and heart attacks.  

Yet it will come as no surprise to anyone acquainted with Buemann, one of the most recognizable faces across Canada’s mortgage industry, that she’s come to describe her diagnosis as a “gift wrapped in sandpaper”: a life-changing development that started a journey full of the most daunting challenges and valuable lessons at every turn.

“It has been a beautiful gift”

The Prince George, BC-based broker had been flying high in the mortgage industry for well over a decade, quickly establishing herself as one of the sector’s most prominent members as a talented entrepreneur – a partner at The Collective Mortgage Group – and industry trailblazer, named multiple times on CMP’s Women of Influence list.

Yet the unexpected, and horrifying, turn for the worse that arrived with Buemann’s diagnosis in December 2022 put professional considerations firmly in their place.

The implications were stark. Buemann had known for a while that something was amiss, with strong pain in the area and a series of inconclusive tests carried out before the emergence of lumps in the breast and then armpit.

She’d been pouring herself into her work and was still dealing with the effects of long COVID – but realized that something else must be wrong, with symptoms persisting despite repeated doctor visits and a range of natural treatments.

Finally, a biopsy late last year revealed the words that would change things forever: high-grade carcinoma, whose discovery would ultimately lead to diagnosis of the invasive Stage 3 form of cancer.

Having faced that storm and confronted the enormous challenge head-on, Buemann is looking to the future with characteristic optimism and steely resolve.

“I would be lying if I said there weren’t dark days,” she said. “The hardest part is imagining not having more time with my kids and what their life would be like without a mom. That’s sort of my reason for fighting – and also trying to share with them the lessons that I’ve learned along the way, the lessons that I’m learning through this journey of presence, and what success is, and the importance of time.

“I would say I’m doing well, considering, although I’m still in the trenches. But so far, I feel like it has been a beautiful gift. The perspective that you gain through an experience like this is absolutely unattainable in any way other than through experience.”  

A new perspective

Needless to say, running a mortgage brokerage and business – a sizeable endeavour at the best of times – becomes an even bigger challenge when simultaneously navigating a serious personal health crisis.

Buemann paid tribute to the support offered by the “amazing” members of both the Collective and her personal mortgage teams, with the strength of the groups allowing her to adjust her schedule during illness and providing a timely bout of perspective.

“I learned to be really honest with my capacity and what I’m available to do, when,” she said. “I think the other part is understanding that I’m not as important as I think I am. So when I first entered the cancer treatment, I told my team, ‘I think I need a break, I’m stepping back,’ and I just didn’t even check my email for days.

“It was so amazing how everyone stepped up and showed their competence, and how supportive they were. It was amazing how well the machine ran without me needing to be as plugged in. And it really made me question all of those hours I poured out, and what they were for.”

For brokers and their clients, the mortgage process can often seem like the most important thing in the world – but Buemann said her recent brush with serious illness had disproved that myth, both to her benefit and that of customers.

“I feel like I’m maybe able to pull clients back into a more peaceful position throughout the homebuying journey because it’s really not as big as it feels in that moment,” she explained. “Although I knew that to be true previously, finding out what real stress feels like and what life or death actually feels like, it brings different levels of experience to all things.”

Throughout the trauma of hair loss and other physical changes, Buemann noted something interesting. “The quality of care that people extend when you look really, really sick, is absolutely amazing,” she said.

“And I would hope that going forward, I can maintain that to others – but my hope for humanity would be that if everyone could treat each other like they were going through a life-or-death situation, it would be a far more beautiful existence.”

“It’s OK to be vulnerable”

When Buemann first decided to share her story, she said the reaction from the industry, and others who had gone through a similar experience or been impacted by cancer, had been overwhelming.

For those who are experiencing cancer, it’s important to “hold onto the compassion that others show and allow it in,” she said. “Because I think it’s a hard thing for us to receive sometimes, too.

“And it’s hard for others to know what to say to those of us who look cancer-like, and it’s hard for those conversations to happen. But it’s so important, and it’s so liberating, when you can say, ‘I’m really struggling today,’ or ‘I need a little bit of extra compassion,’ or ‘My cognitive function is very low today.”

It’s something of a curiosity that despite impacting the lives of scores of Canadians – an estimated two in five will be diagnosed in their lifetime, and about one in four will die from the disease – cancer remains an intensely difficult topic for many people to discuss.

That needs to change, Buemann said, not only to open up the conversation on cancer itself but equally on other forms of illness and disease.

“I think in order to normalize the conversation around concern, those who are not right in the trenches need to understand a little bit more what it feels like,” she said. “And so I think it’s OK to show your cards, and it’s OK to be vulnerable and open and honest about the struggle.

“Hopefully it will allow others to show up in a really effective way of compassion towards people who are struggling not only with physical illness, but mental illness.”

Buemann is looking to the future with determination and hope that the storm is subsiding. In the meantime, she said, the importance of focusing on health and wellness cannot be overstated – especially as a priority over work.

“There are a lot of women in our industry who are getting breast cancer. There are a lot of people in our industry who are starting to share the same experiences,” she said. “So I would say: Just prioritize health above all. And health isn’t just physical – it’s all-encompassing.”