Julie was born in northern England, U.K, where she qualified and worked as a state registered nurse, midwife and health visitor. In 1988, along with her husband Graham and their son Paul, she moved to Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. She worked in Chilliwack as an infant development consultant from 1988 to 2006.

Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, Julie was a 15+ year cancer survivor who lived with metastatic breast cancer since 2006.  Despite facing breast cancer three times Julie chose to smile and live life to the fullest. She was determined to make every moment of every day count and had been an active member of the breast cancer survivor dragon boat team, “Spirit Abreast,” from 2002 to 2009.  

She served as co- chair in 2008 and 2009, and looked forward to being the team manager in 2010. When health issues stopped her from active paddling she took over the job of team drummer and loved every minute of her time on the boat. Her husband Graham is still the steersperson for the team so dragon boating was a family affair. Their son and his family live close by and Julie spent many precious hours with her much loved granddaughter, Abby.

Julie believed that her mission in life was to inspire others to choose to smile through   adversity and to demonstrate to others that there is life after a diagnosis of metastatic disease. In addition to this, her goals were to be written up in the medical journals as one of the longest living survivors of metastatic breast cancer; to attend her granddaughter’s graduation and wedding; and see her book become a best seller. Unfortunately, Julie did not live long enough to see her goals reach fruition as she passed away surrounded by her family on January 21st, 2011, at 7:20am in the Cascade Hospice Centre in Chilliwack.