Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Presented by Health First

Meet Julie Osborne

Julie Osborne rang the bell! “Everybody waved and clapped,” Osborne, 69, recalled of seeing a Health First Cancer Institute patient ring the bell after finishing their final chemotherapy session. “I’m sure they were all thinking like I was — ‘We’ll be glad when we can do that, too.’ ” “I made it through chemo!” she exclaimed with emotion, pumping her fist after the metal clang pierced the air. “Good luck, everybody — you will, too.”

Osborne’s Health First Medical Group care team joined her husband, Bob, and friend Jeanette Cullen that day to cheer her on, minutes after finishing her final aggressive treatment for Stage 2 breast cancer. Osborne was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer, a strain described by breastcancer.org as a faster-growing cancer that is more likely to spread and recur. An aggressive, four-drug chemo cocktail was prescribed to shrink the tumor prior to a September lumpectomy. A biopsy of her lymph nodes revealed Osborne is cancer-free, she said.

It was during a shopping trip in March that Osborne felt a lump while trying on a blouse. When follow-up testing revealed breast cancer, Osborne’s mind immediately raced to her daughter — and kicking this disease.

The gathering was proof that battling cancer isn’t a solo fight. Family, friends and her care providers at Health First have provided critical emotional support.

Source: Florida Today story

Space Coast Living Story

Health First’s Cancer Institute and Breast Center — nationally recognized cancer care, dedicated to the fight against breast cancer right here in Brevard.


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