By nature, twins have an unbreakable bond.
It was no surprise Connie Claeys and Cortney Drover did everything together: Growing up in Saskatchewan, moving to Alberta and even working at the same place.
The pair of identical twins have experienced life through a similar lens. In their late 20s, they faced their biggest challenge yet — side by side.
“I’m actually the oldest twin by five minutes… I feel like I’ve kind of done everything first,” Drover explains.
“This was no different — I got diagnosed in 2015 with Stage 3 breast cancer.”
Drover was just months away from turning 30.
“I actually had a lump under my armpit… being that young, it’s just not even on your radar… I’ve never been, honestly, so shocked in my life.”
Drover began eight rounds of chemotherapy, as well as undergoing a double mastectomy and radiation therapy.
News of the diagnosis compelled Connie, who was symptom-free, to also get checked.
“The next thing I knew, I was getting called into the clinic because I also had breast cancer,” Claeys recalled.
“Especially back in 2015, it was just unheard of at that time, I feel, for women our age. It was terrifying.”
Claeys credits her sister for helping find the cancer so quickly, and the two sought answers as to how this could happen to both of them.
“We got tested for the BRCA2 gene, which we found out we both carry. That does give you a significantly higher chance of having breast cancer,” Claeys said.
“It answered our questions. As sad as it is that we both have (breast cancer), we could accept it more,” Drover explained.
After several years, both women thought they were in the clear of the disease.
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A little more than five years after Drover’s initial diagnosis, she found another lump on her neck and was diagnosed again, this time with Stave 4 metastatic breast cancer — spreading beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes to other organs.
It rocked the tight-knit family once again, and Claeys says she carried a lot of guilt watching her sister begin the fight again.
“When Court got diagnosed in 2020 and I was cancer-free at that time, I would say that was the hardest two years of my life.”
But in 2022, Claeys would resume her fight as well.
“I was actually just at an appointment with Cortney, just supporting her — our oncologist asked me to be part of a trial that prevents metastatic breast cancer from occurring.”
Claeys agreed, and underwent a CT scan to ensure everything was clear.
“I ended up having a lump on my left lung.
“Instead of going on a trial to prevent it, I got my Stage 4 diagnosis.”
It’s a battle that’s lasted 10 years and will continue to take place for the rest of their lives.
The sisters already thought they were inseparable, but the experience has brought them even closer together.
“When I’m having a bad day and saying ‘My medication has made me feel like this,’ she gets it because she has the exact same things happening in her body — the exact same emotions,” Drover said.
The two women live minutes apart from each other in Okotoks, Alta. They say they’re thriving but even today, their experience is somewhat different.
Drover struggles with the effects of medication more so than Claeys, who says she’s still symptom-free.
“When you aren’t in chemotherapy and you have your hair and you don’t physically look sick, but inside you’re just feeling terrible… family and friends try to understand it, but they really just don’t get it,” Claeys added.
“When you have that one person — especially when you’re twins — that understands what you’re going through. It just makes sense.”
What hasn’t changed is their shared commitment to make the most of the little things in life.
“With my first diagnosis, or my Stage 4 diagnosis, we didn’t know if Christmas was going to be the last Christmas we would have,” Drover said.
“We never thought we’d get our first diagnosis, let alone another one after that… I think we just really cherish the little things now.”
“I find that the more years that pass, the scarier it gets,” Claeys said.
“Now you’re thinking that you were only given three to five years (to live), and you’re at three to five years now, are you nearing the end of your rope? But I think the advances in medication even since we first got diagnosed in 2015 have been amazing.”
Next month, the twins will do yet another thing together: participating in the CIBC Run for The Cure in support of the Canadian Cancer Society.
It will be the third appearance for both of them.
“I’ve seen the advancement in research since 2015 and since 2022,” Claeys said. “So I really just wanted to be a part of something that allowed us to fundraise and be a part of this advancement.”
While raising funds is the goal of the event, the twins say it’s so much more.
“It’s a lot about the community,” Drover said.
“Cancer can be a very lonely journey. You can feel like ‘Nobody understands me,’” Claeys said.
“To see all these people there… you’re like ‘I’m not alone.’ All these people are here for me and I’m here for everybody else.”
The CIBC Run for The Cure takes place in more than 50 communities across Canada on Sunday, Oct. 4.
“The run really is one day, a couple of hours… but it lasts forever. All of the funds that go towards this really do help breast cancer research. We’ve seen it first-hand.”
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