'I'm fortunate I survived a stage 4 diagnosis when so many didn't make it'

Lynette McHendry is now eight years in breast cancer remission

It's been a decade of treatments, trials and many tears for Lynette McHendry – but also hope and resilience.

Diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer 10 years ago, aged 37, she has defied the odds to face down a disease that made her feel "invisible", while also fighting for access to the treatment that ultimately saved her life, but was not available to her in Northern Ireland.

Ten years ago, a stage four cancer diagnosis may have felt like a "death sentence," but Lynette's story also points towards the advancements in treatment and drugs, which she believes will allow more women to live longer with the disease.

"I am fortunate to have survived a stage four diagnosis when so many of my friends and patients I met along the way didn't make it," she said.

One of those friends was Julie Ann Lillis, who died in 2023.

She, Lynette and Anne McBrien were part of a group called Beaconbridge which called for a special audit of how many women in Northern Ireland were living with stage four breast cancer.

Only 3.5% of urgent breast cancer referrals seen within target time

'It was awful waiting on my diagnosis': NI cancer cases hit record high

That audit, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland, continues to help shape policy, treatment, and services.

"I think over the last 10 years things have improved substantially for women like Lynette and I'm optimistic about the future," said Stuart McIntosh, a professor of surgical oncology at Queen's University Belfast.

Stuart McIntosh says "over the last 10 years things have improved substantially for women like Lynette"

The leading breast surgeon at the Belfast Cancer Centre, said Northern Ireland's role in developing treatments and pioneering national clinical trials such as PARP inhibitors which are targeted cancer drugs, mean women are being offered a more positive prognosis than they were a decade ago.

It was during a family holiday in July 2015 that Lynette experienced pain in her left breast.

Her GP arranged a mammogram and within two weeks Lynette was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer.

What made her cancer so unusual was she had triple negative breast cancer in her right breast, followed by a diagnosis of inflammatory breast cancer in her left breast.

"Receiving a cancer diagnosis was terrifying not just for me but also my partner and our two young boys but being told I had an aggressive form of breast cancer was just the start," Lynette said.

It was then she reached out to BBC News NI to raise awareness about stage f