Beth Chapman, the former star of A&E's Dog the Bounty Hunter, has experienced her fair
share of ups and downs throughout the years.
But her story took a life-threatening turn in 2017 when she was diagnosed with stage
2 throat cancer.
This is her tragic real-life story.
"So the news was bad, and the guy just sort of blurted out, it's cancer"
Beth's fight for her life began in September 2017, after she was diagnosed with stage II
throat cancer.
She wrote in a letter to friends,
Vowing to fight the disease "like hell," Beth put up a strong front.
But in November 2018, the cancer returned after a period of remission.
Duane admitted to The Blast that Beth was not doing well after emergency surgery, a
heartbreaking update given how hard she'd been fighting.
Beth made the decision in December 2018 to return to her home state of Colorado.
Duane told Us Weekly,
"I'm gonna come back from this.
And if not, then I want my children to be able to see what a fight their mother put
up"
We're wishing Beth the best in her recovery.
Amid Beth's cancer battle, she filmed a special for A&E titled, Dog & Beth: Fight of Their
Lives.
On the show, when Beth asked Duane's daughter, Lyssa, to spend time with her in L.A. while
she recovered from a surgery, and Lyssa couldn't make it, Beth told her oldest daughter, Cecily,
"A family member in this family was in need, right, and some true colors came out."
What probably made matters worse was that Lyssa took to Instagram to vent about the
matter after receiving backlash from fans.
She commented:
"I feel a little bit bitter about the older kids not coming."
"But I do expect them to be there for their father when he's going through a very rough
time."
No matter whose side you're on, many of us can probably agree that no one should have
to deal with drama while battling a life-threatening disease.
Before Beth found love with Duane, she was married to Keith A. Barmore.
The exes share a daughter named Cecily.
And although Beth hasn't said much about Barmore on the show, she might have revealed a troubling
allegation about his life via Twitter in 2015.
She wrote to a fan,
Adding to the plot, Duane, who was childhood friends with Barmore, talked about his pal's
addiction in his book, You Can Run but You Can't Hide.
He wrote,
If Duane's claims are true, it sounds like Beth escaped a dangerous situation.
Things took a particularly scary turn in 2012, after Beth and her family received death threats
via email from an unidentified perpetrator.
According to Radar Online, the emails were explicit in nature, with one letter to Duane
reading:
Even worse, a few messages alluded to harming the couple's then young children.
Beth, who isn't typically unnerved by threats, given her bounty hunter background, admitted
on Today,
"Yeah, you know over a 30 year career, ya know, I've seen a lot of threatening messages,
and things that are disturbing, but this really sent a chill down my spine"
Beth and Duane handed the emails over to the FBI, and revealed in a family statement, via
E! News,
Losing a parent is never easy.
And Beth suffered the loss of her beloved dad, Garry Smith, in 2006 when he was 68,
according to The New York Post.
Smith's death occurred only two months before Beth and Duane's 2006 wedding.
Beth used to do everything with her dad, giving him the title of "best friend" in a 2016 Facebook
post.
She wrote,