Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter

Julie Lynch. "I felt like this (breast cancer) wasn't really such a death sentence, because early detection for me sounded like a possibility of a cure." - PHOTO BY Yahneake Sterling

Julie Lynch lost her left breast at 28 to cancer. Now 37, she smiles at the memory and life after losing her breast.

At the age of 26, a thickening in her breast caught her attention, but a visit to her doctor dispelled the thought of cancer as he told her that it was just a thickening of the breast duct.

Breast self-examination

At the time, doing a breast self-examination had become a norm for her.

Two years later, at 28, that same thickening seemed more like a lump. So that December (1998), she had herself checked at the Jamaica Cancer Society. After an examination and subsequently, a biopsy, the doctors confirmed her fears that it was pre-stage one breast cancer. This was in January 1999, the year of her 29th birthday.

Julie had battled many illnesses since the age of 19, and so, while