Joe Amabile & Serena Pitt | Behind Joe’s Brain Tumor & Their Road to Recovery!

Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe

Caitlin Bristow welcomes Bachelor Nation couple Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt to celebrate their resilience after a year defined by Joe's brain tumor diagnosis, successful

Key takeaways

• Joe Amabile was diagnosed with a malignant, non-enhancing grade two glioma after a Prenuvo scan detected a brain lesion the size of a blueberry.
• Serena Pitt managed her own anxiety privately to serve as Joe's steady rock during his diagnosis and recovery at NYU.

Main topics

• Joe Amabile's brain tumor diagnosis and surgical recovery
• Mental health, anxiety management, and post-surgery restrictions

Notable quotes

"I'm not a worst case scenario thinker... let's just hope for the best until someone gives us information otherwise."

Conclusion

This episode offers an uplifting look at how Joe and Serena transformed a life-threatening

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Okay, apparently, you guys, if you give me a microphone for 10 years, eventually something amazing happens. You end up with one. thousand episodes. One thousand. I don't want to cry. Obviously we're throwing a party, you guys. On November 9th, we are taking over the Gramercy Theater in New York City for a huge off the vine live show. I am bringing back some of my favorite people who have sat across from me over the years. Surprise guests, games, cocktails, giveaways, probably things I can't tell you yet. Okay. But tickets are coming soon, but for now save the date. Okay. November 9th, New New York City, come celebrate 1,000 episodes. I need all of my vinos there. Speaker 3 (0:49) You're listening to Off the Vine with Caitlin Bristow. Speaker 3 (0:54) Hey, everybody. Welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow, and I'm so, so happy about today's episode because I have two people that I absolutely adore. Sitting in the studio with me, Joe and Serena from, of course, Bachelor, Bachelor in Paradise. Joe has gone through so much. Serena, too, because... They are a true partnership, you guys. I want to be in a threesome with them. What? I feel like just so much has happened since the last time we all sat down, obviously, together. They're married. They've started their own podcast. Joe has had a hell of a year between brain surgery, a brain tumor. Now... trying to possibly train for the New York Marathon. Really excited to catch up, talk about everything they've been through, obviously get into the important stuff. Joe, I know so personally, and I like this version of Joe. He's softer, he's more open and vulnerable, and of course it's because of what he's been through. I love them both, so let's welcome Joe and Serena to the podcast. Speaker 1 (1:48) How are we doing, guys? Speaker 3 (1:50) We're good. Joe, you got the sniffles a little bit? Speaker 5 (1:52) Um, yeah, I do have a little bit of Speaker 3 (1:54) a Speaker 5 (1:54) sinus. I do have a little bit of a sinus infection. Oh, no. Speaker 4 (1:58) Self-diagnosed. I Speaker 5 (2:00) mean, I just I just yeah, I'm just like I'm heavy here. It's heavy. Speaker 3 (2:05) Yeah. Is this just you just sort of fall cold or is this from? No, I think it's just I think it's just a fall cold. Oh, OK. Yeah. Just Speaker 4 (2:12) making sure you're okay over there. I know. I said this guy can't catch a break. Truly. I know. Can't Speaker 5 (2:18) you Speaker 4 (2:18) just heal in peace? I Speaker 5 (2:19) set my running outfit up for yesterday morning and then I woke up and I was just like, I just can't do anything these days. I just can't get away with anything. Speaker 3 (2:30) Louise, I mean, the fact that you're even running, you're just trying to be a hero all around it. I'm really impressed by you. Speaker 5 (2:36) Well, I ran six and a half miles last week. I was also very stressed out. But like when I got done running, this was the first time this happened. I don't know if I told you. But like the top of my head was it was like pulsing for like 10 minutes. And I was like, you Speaker 3 (2:52) did tell me that. OK, not that this is anywhere near what you just went through. But have you guys seen a preview for The Swan, the documentary on Hulu? Do you remember The Swan from like 2001 or 2002? I can't remember. With Natalie Portman? No, that's Black Swan. Oh. Oh, yeah. This is much different. This was a reality TV show about ugly ducklings that they would take and put them in a bunch of surgeries and make them the swan. Oh, I feel like I Speaker 1 (3:18) have Speaker 3 (3:18) heard of that. They had to compete in a, like, pageant at the end against the other women. And they were, like, so traumatized. And this documentary is about that show and how they were treated behind the scenes. They went through, like... 20 different surgeries. I mean, they were getting veneers. They're getting lip, whatever. They like cut part of their lips out to make it less space between here. They were getting brow lifts. They're getting facelifts. They're getting hair transplants. They were doing everything possible. And then two days later, they're getting them in the gym to try because they had to lose weight. They had life coaches. They were getting all the surgery and. All this stuff. Who approved this concept? Well, the worst is that there's like a couple of producers that go in and like talk about it. And they're like, it was an empowering show. And the whole thing, they're like, oh, they didn't get the memo that this is making fun of like how they ran their show. Speaker 4 (4:07) Like it was so sad Speaker 3 (4:09) because it's already sad that they like intro the show. They're like, is inner beauty really enough? Speaker 2 (4:15) And Speaker 1 (4:16) then they like Speaker 3 (4:16) have all these women go through the surgery. Dr. Dubrow was on it. It was Speaker 4 (4:22) crazy. What Speaker 3 (4:23) year Speaker 4 (4:23) did that come out? It had to have been early 2000s. Can Speaker 3 (4:25) you Speaker 4 (4:25) look that Speaker 3 (4:26) up? Speaker 4 (4:26) I Speaker 3 (4:26) think it's, like, if I were to guess, I would say 2003. around there yeah and i the Speaker 4 (4:32) swan Speaker 3 (4:33) and i remember being like um at the time being like well i can't wait till i'm older and get all those surgeries like Speaker 4 (4:40) that's the Speaker 3 (4:40) point i was at my life and i'm like you're like looking up applications Speaker 4 (4:44) you're like 15 years old truly i'm like i'm like Speaker 3 (4:46) inner beauty isn't enough anyways but that reminded me of how much pain like you got a brain surgery so to be doing any form of physical activity for that to start? Do they say like, don't do Speaker 5 (4:59) that? Um, they, no, no. What? So the restrictions that I'm on, um, it was like, once you get your staples out, you could, you could start like running slow. Um, and not like, you know, like I think that my first run was like three miles and that was, that was probably too much. That's a lot. Speaker 2 (5:20) But Speaker 5 (5:20) like, it was kind of like gradually, um, just like gradually. let everything build. Yeah. I'm still on weight restriction. So like I can't for the first eight weeks, which it's been eight weeks. I think it's been eight weeks today. Oh, happy eight weeks. Two months. So I think I think I think they're dropped now. But like it was like twenty five, thirty pounds was the most I could do. And Speaker 4 (5:48) I think they said. You can't lift above 70 pounds for three months. Okay. Speaker 5 (5:54) Okay. Yeah. It's Speaker 4 (5:55) in a booklet somewhere in an apartment. But I mean. How Speaker 3 (5:58) big Speaker 4 (5:58) is this booklet? I mean, it's a couple pages for sure. Oh, my Speaker 3 (6:03) gosh. Well, yeah. And then you're going to run a marathon, which we'll get into. But anyways. In Speaker 4 (6:08) 2004. Speaker 3 (6:09) Oh, good guess. I was really close. You Speaker 4 (6:11) were Speaker 3 (6:11) really close. I was. It was. I can't wait for this documentary to come out. I somehow got like a sneak peek through. like some hulu thing that i got and i was like i get to watch this so i watched it was it's devastating i'm scared yeah yeah you should be um but it also was good okay i'll move past this in a second but it also was good because no let's talk about this the whole podcast okay Speaker 5 (6:31) seeing Speaker 3 (6:33) these people go through these surgeries you realize because in my brain i'm like how cool you could just go to sleep have a quick expensive nap and come out with like new boobs and like the upper left and then i was like wait this is actually serious like surgery is pretty serious and it showed how gnarly it was and how you get so depressed after any surgery there's like the post like surgery blues i'm sure you felt that even especially in your case but like from the anesthesia and all the things that come along with it and the drugs that you're probably on like it's a lot Speaker 5 (7:05) Well, I always think of that going back to like the swan. I always think of that scene and it's complicated with Meryl Streep. Speaker 1 (7:12) Yeah. Where Speaker 5 (7:12) she goes to like to see the. Classic surgeon. Classic surgeon. And she's like interested. He's like, what you need is a brow lift. And then he he explains to her like. what comes after that. He's like, you're going to make Speaker 4 (7:26) a small incision. We're going to lift your entire head up and you're going to have a headache for about eight to 12 months. And she's like, what the hell? But I do feel like a show like The Swan and then a documentary coming out now is like the perfect example of like where reality and just culture in general used to be versus where it is now. Yeah, true. It's true. Like no one probably blinked an eye when that came out. They're probably like, this is sick. Well, Speaker 5 (7:49) same thing as... Tyra Banks's show. Speaker 3 (7:52) Yeah. Oh my. Yeah. Now you look back on those. That's my fear. Do you guys ever have this fear where like in 10 years, what I say today is going to be so inappropriate and like get me canceled and be like, I can't believe she did this. But it might be like, Speaker 4 (8:05) that's just evolution of what is and isn't okay. Like there's definitely going to be things that we think are okay today to say and do that in like 20 years, our kids are going to be like. How did you do that? They're Speaker 1 (8:19) probably going to be like, you loser. You put Speaker 4 (8:21) plastic in your boobs to what? Yeah. And you're like, guess what? Me and everyone else, babe. Like, that's how it went down back then. Those Speaker 3 (8:28) were the Speaker 4 (8:28) times. Those Speaker 3 (8:28) were the days. Oh, my gosh. That's scary. Well, you guys have really had yourself a year. Before we get into the heavier stuff, what's been the best thing that's happened to you this year? Speaker 4 (8:38) Ooh, that's a fun question. I'm sure everyone's focusing on the worst, which we're going to. Speaker 5 (8:45) Yeah, that's a tough question. Yeah. I mean, like overall it. Speaker 5 (8:52) Like, yeah, it's been a tough year, but like I I actually thought this the other day and it's probably I would say it's probably a healthy mindset. But like as bad as this year, it is trouble like as tough as this year has been. It's still been okay. I think I can look back on this year and I'm still going to be like, still a good year. Speaker 3 (9:16) And Speaker 5 (9:17) I think that's great. Speaker 3 (9:20) That's nice. I also think that's great. That is a healthy mindset. Speaker 5 (9:25) There's been a lot of... Like I would always choose not to have a Speaker 2 (9:32) brain tumor. Speaker 5 (9:33) Of Speaker 3 (9:33) course. Yes. Yes. Speaker 5 (9:34) But there's been a lot of good to come from it. And it's also like tested who I am as an individual. It's tested our relationship to an extent. So like I think I think, you know, there's the positives, too. And that's what I try to focus on. Speaker 3 (9:49) Good for you. I like to think that I would be that way, but I'm a pretty glass half empty kind of gal. Well, Speaker 5 (9:55) I'm that way now, but like, give me 30 minutes. Speaker 3 (10:00) We're fresh into this interview and it's a good day. Start off with positivity. I Speaker 5 (10:04) would say the best thing this year has been starting a new podcast. Yeah, Speaker 3 (10:10) that would be my answer, too. Speaker 5 (10:11) Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 (10:12) Because I feel like for you guys, you were so pigeonholed into talking Bachelor Nation for so long. That it's like you can't even be yourself at a certain point because you're like, I can't. Like now people get to see you for who I know you as like friends. Yeah. And you get to actually just have your own voices. And sure, you can talk about Bachelor stuff if you want to, but you have this whole new opportunity for Speaker 4 (10:34) conversation. Speaker 3 (10:35) Yeah. Speaker 4 (10:36) Yeah. It's been nice and just like exciting to start a new project, work on something that we have so much creative control over. And I mean, podcasting for Bachelor was a great gig, but it was just time to. Switch it up, you know, because you get burnt out and you're like, I don't want to be in this job to a point where I start to like show up to work with like a bad attitude and like don't want like that's not fun for anyone. No. And I look Speaker 3 (11:00) at the Bachelor Happy Hour podcast and I'm like, they are running out of topics because we haven't had an episode in a minute. I Speaker 4 (11:07) feel for them. I do too. I can't imagine. being on a strictly bachelor focused podcast with no show for this long. And I mean, they're crushing it. Like I'm seeing their clips and they're figuring it out as you do. Like, but well, you guys got with the unwell network. Speaker 3 (11:23) How Speaker 4 (11:23) did you get that gig? Well, when we left Bachelor Happy Hour, we knew we wanted to kind of keep podcasting together. I mean, we really liked it. We just wanted to spread our wings and talk about different topics and have a little bit more of like a say and control over the podcast. And Speaker 5 (11:38) then our agent started pitching us out. Amazing. Speaker 3 (11:42) On Speaker 5 (11:43) Wall was like one of four or five podcast companies that were interested. Yeah. And that ended up being the best deal. Speaker 4 (11:50) That's amazing. Speaker 5 (11:50) It Speaker 4 (11:50) was a good deal. And we're really happy with them, too. Yeah. Yeah, they've been great. Obviously, when everything happened with Joe, it was like, I don't want to say early, but it's still a new relationship. Like, we haven't even been with Unwell for a year, right? So we were like, okay, hi, so this is what's going on. I know you just signed us, but things are about to take a dark turn, and they've been so supportive. That's nice. Speaker 5 (12:11) We got a text from Matt and Alex that was just like... Take as much time as you need. That's Speaker 3 (12:16) nice. Yeah, Speaker 5 (12:17) which is great. Speaker 3 (12:18) Which is because I feel like they get Alex Cooper and her husband. I feel like, you know, anyone can say anything about anyone and we choose to believe it or not. And they get some bad reps. But at the end of the day, you have a personal experience with them and yours is positive. Speaker 5 (12:32) Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Speaker 4 (12:34) I think. We don't work very closely with them. It's such a big company. I think people forget that. Like, Unwell is a massive company and they are very much at the top of that company. And we are one of the podcasts on their podcast network, which is like a division of Unwell. But we can say like every experience that we've had interacting with them has been unbelievably positive. And they've been really supportive and kind throughout all of this. Speaker 3 (12:55) Yeah, because that's like. that's going to change your whole schedule when you get news like that and your whole life. And for a company, of course, a lot of people have a business mindset to go, well, okay, we have ads to run. We have this, like, how are you going to make it work? But it sounds like they were just like, take as much time. They said, yeah, they were so nice. So, okay. Take me back to, you did a Pernuvo scan. Now a lot of people, and I have a question for you about this. A lot of people don't want to go do a scan like that because they're scared of what they would find. That was him. You felt you were one of those that you're like, I don't want to do this because what if they find something? Speaker 5 (13:31) Yeah. Now, Speaker 3 (13:32) in hindsight, are you like, thank God? Or do you understand why people I guess you would understand. But what is your thought on that? Speaker 5 (13:38) So it's it's too it's twofold. OK. I'm I'm a believer. Like, I do think like knowledge is power. And you do like if like. I think every single time I would have chosen to get this out of my head. Yeah. Speaker 5 (14:01) But there are doctors and like even my neurosurgeon and oncologist were kind of like Speaker 5 (14:11) This may may never have presented itself for for for 20, 30 years. They they don't really know. Or Speaker 4 (14:19) on the flip in five to 10 years, he could have started having seizures and it would have been like a more emergent surgery. So Speaker 3 (14:26) you still don't know. Like it could have been that you could have lived your whole life with this or you maybe could have started giving you a seizure and it could have turned worse. Yeah, they don't. Speaker 5 (14:35) And they don't. And yeah, they just. They just don't know. So it is one of those things where it's like I did end up having a very. Speaker 5 (14:45) You know a very Embracing surgery invasive Speaker 4 (14:49) invasive Speaker 3 (14:50) I'm not good with big words. I was like, yeah It Speaker 5 (14:54) was it was a very intense surgery Speaker 5 (15:01) And again, like, I think I would still make that decision. But, you know, I didn't have a choice. Once I once I got the information, it was like then all the doctors were like, yeah, now you do need to get this out of your head. Speaker 4 (15:14) Yeah. Both surgeons you met with at MSK and NYU were both like, if it were me, I would get this out. Yeah. Because Speaker 5 (15:22) because they it was what they thought it was. And it was a glioma. And gliomas are, I believe. almost all of them are cancerous. Speaker 4 (15:33) Your tumor was malignant and it was cancerous, which is what they expected. They did not think it was going to be benign and they were correct. Okay. And, Speaker 3 (15:39) but this is okay. Cause my girlfriend's dad had glioblastoma. That's different from what you had, right? Yeah. Okay. Speaker 5 (15:47) Glioblastoma from my understanding is, um, As bad as it gets. Speaker 3 (15:53) Yeah. Nobody survives it. Speaker 5 (15:54) Yeah. OK. Yeah. I believe so. And I in, you know, the statistics on Google are are outdated, but like life expectancy is like 12 to 18 months, like max. Yeah. Yeah. Once you hear Speaker 4 (16:09) blast, you know, it's not good. OK. OK. But Speaker 5 (16:12) that's but that means it's if you have a glioblastoma, I believe that's grade four. Speaker 5 (16:20) And then it's already spread throughout the brain where there's not much they could do. Right. Yeah. Speaker 4 (16:25) The good thing about Joe's because it was early is they could get the whole thing. They could go clean around the tumor. Okay. Whereas once it grows, especially the brain is such a sensitive area, like you really don't want to mess with anything foreign in the brain. Yeah. Once it starts to spread, like picture like spider legs, like moving around, like that's Speaker 2 (16:42) a Speaker 4 (16:42) lot harder to do a clean. But there Speaker 5 (16:44) are, but there are clinical trials right now that they're doing at, I think Penn, that I think they're making progress towards figuring out like how to, how to slow down, slow the growth of glioblastomas. Really? Yeah. Yeah. I Speaker 3 (17:01) mean, it must be you, when you got the news. Of course, you did. They call you first and say, we found something. And like, you have to go in for other tests. Or how did you I know this story, but like, I can't remember right now. And I would like you to share it with the class that when like what happened when you found out. Yeah. OK, Speaker 5 (17:23) so I we went out that night for it was Jesse Solomon's birthday party. Speaker 3 (17:29) OK. Speaker 5 (17:30) And we. Tell everyone why you're putting on sunglasses. I was going Speaker 3 (17:34) to say, do you want to quickly. You're trying to be cool. Speaker 5 (17:36) Well, I am. Part of me is trying to be cool. Part of me is just as light sensitivity. OK. Speaker 4 (17:42) Post-brain surgery light sensitivity. And we're in a lit studio. Yeah, that makes sense. So like. Please put them on. Speaker 5 (17:47) So the ring lights are just, you know, annoying my eyes. Yeah. But yeah. Anyways, we so we go out that night and we're on our way to his birthday party and I get a. I either get a text or an email that my pre-novo results are in and they are trying to schedule a call on me for like the morning. And I was like, OK, that's weird. Because Speaker 4 (18:15) you did one, too, and you weren't getting this call. Yes. And this was like 48 hours after we'd done the scans. And they were kind of like, you know, five to seven business days, probably next week. And they were. It was like 9 p.m. at night. It was something where we were like, this doesn't feel like normal. Yeah. Speaker 5 (18:31) And then and I remember being like we went out that night to like 3 a.m. And I remember being so hungover. Oh, Speaker 4 (18:39) my God. Yeah. Speaker 5 (18:40) And like my head was pounding. And then. And Speaker 3 (18:43) do you get anxiety with hangovers? A Speaker 5 (18:46) little bit. A little bit. And, you know, I took the call at 9 a.m. And the first thing he said was, OK. Um, You know, I want to I want to just get this off like I want to talk about this right on top of the conversation. We we found this. It looks like a brain lesion. It's the size of a small grape, a large blueberry. Where it is located in the brain is somewhat alarming. Did your heart just drop? I was just trying to like not throw up. Yeah. Well, from the. Speaker 3 (19:30) over the anxiety i mean i think both probably Speaker 4 (19:32) like Speaker 5 (19:33) i remember like and then he was like so i was like okay um he's like so you need to go get a um a dedicated brain mri with and without contrast and you should do that within the next week or two wow because Speaker 4 (19:45) the full body scans it's like 10 minutes on each part of your body so it could be just like a like a Speaker 3 (19:53) a shadow from something like it could have been nothing sure it could have been for sure Speaker 5 (19:58) i asked i asked i was like could this have been like just like you know because there's they only spend 10 minutes on the brain or eight minutes whatever it is i'm like could i have like moved abruptly right and like cause this he's like sure sure yeah Speaker 1 (20:14) probably not yeah Speaker 5 (20:16) um and then so then i went and got a dedicated brain well okay So then I'm like kind of freaking out. But like we're still like like I think Alan was in town. Yeah. And we were like joking about it. And like I think like when you hear, you know, anything bad at first and like overall, I've never had any issues with health. It's kind of like it's probably going to be nothing. Yeah. Like that was my attitude. That's kind of what we thought. Speaker 4 (20:45) I'm a big believer. And like this is easier said than done, but this is very much my vibe and approach to things is like, let's just hope for the best until someone gives us information otherwise. Like, let's not a little bit. I'm like, I'm not a worst case scenario thinker, which is a blessing, honestly, because sometimes I think that's just something that you can't control. I'm just like, all right, what we know right now is you have a lesion in the brain. Could be a plethora of different things. Could be something serious. Could be nothing. Let's just. Keep moving forward until someone tells us more information Which is so nice to have in a partner to Speaker 3 (21:19) like because you're probably already well if you're feeling a bit Anxious about it your brain could easily go to worst-case scenario when you're sitting there being told you have some sort of lesion the size of a Grape in your brain. I Speaker 5 (21:33) mean yeah, but my my I run I run all scenarios you know Speaker 4 (21:43) I'm like a best case scenario person. So I'm like, if it's worst case scenario, we'll deal with it. But like, let's hope that it's going to be nothing. And every call we get, I was like, damn, I keep setting myself up for failure on these calls. Like I'm tricking myself because every step of the way it was like, and this isn't great news. And this isn't great news. I was like, I need to start bracing myself a little better for these calls. But I just didn't want to live Speaker 3 (22:04) every day in fear. No, that's beautiful. But I have a question for you. Now, does that. change the way you move forward in life? Are you like, oh, I can't think like that? Or are you still? No, I'm still. That's just who I am. Speaker 4 (22:17) And that's just how I think. And I also think that like it thinking that way got me through some really tough days, whereas he is. a lot more worst case scenario. And I think if we were both like that, our household would be very dark. Yeah. Speaker 5 (22:33) And you could also have a positive mindset, but also still like still take action. Totally. Yeah. Speaker 4 (22:39) I definitely wasn't like in a toxic positivity mindset. I wasn't like, everything's great. This is going to be fine. And I was just like, all right, this might be something really. You had Speaker 3 (22:48) in each day. that you