Meet the Saskatoon sisters facing breast cancer together

Some families inherit a favourite recipe or a cherished tradition.

Lila and Julia McCormick’s inheritance is something deeper: a legacy of resilience, gratitude and the ability to hope in the hardest moments.

Read more Saskatchewan Stories from Brittany Caffet:

• Newlywed to newly diagnosed: A young bride’s breast cancer battle
• Meet the 11-year-old girl raising thousands for breast cancer research
• One in a million: Sask. mom reflects on her fight with rare cancer

Their story began more than three decades ago, when their mother, Laurel Chelsom, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 42. Lila was nine and Julia was seven.

Laurel survived that first diagnosis, but would face cancer three more times before her death five years ago.

Through it all, she modeled something her daughters would carry with them for the rest of their lives.

“She looked for the hope,” Lila reflected, “and she felt gratitude at any moment she could.”

“She was just the most compassionate, wise, generous, warm person I’ve ever met in my life,” Lila McCormick recalled of her mom, Laurel Chelsom. (Submitted)

Last October, Lila was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same age her mother was when she received her first diagnosis.

The news was devastating, but the lessons Laurel had left behind helped guide her through surgery and chemotherapy. Lila was determined to keep living fully, even as she navigated an unfamiliar and difficult chapter.

“I am doing so much better than I was a year ago,” she said. “I have so much hope and optimism for the future.”

Listen to this Saskatchewan Story:

For her younger sister, Julia, Lila’s diagnosis brought years of concern about her own breast cancer risk into sharper focus. After more than a decade of screening and anxious waits for results, Julia was considered high risk and chose preventative surgery.

On Sept. 9, 2026, the sisters underwent surgery on the same day. Lila had a mastectomy on her remaining breast as part of her treatment, while Julia underwent a preventative double mastectomy.

It was a significant moment for both women not only because of what they were facing, but because they were facing it together.

During recovery, they found comfort in the little things: climbing into each other’s hospital beds, meeting for daily walks and talking through their experiences with someone who understood.

“Getting to have the support of my sister and getting to go through this last part together has been really special,” Lila said.

“My hope for the future is that my daughters, my niece, don’t ever have to live through what we’ve lived through either, as a daughter, as a sister, as a mother,” Julia McCormick said. (Submitted)

For Julia, having the opportunity to take preventative action has brought a profound sense of relief.

“The opportunity to have this surgery has felt like a privilege,” she said. “I just genuinely feel that there is a weight lifted in my life.”

She believes the shift toward preventative care reflects something larger than their individual journeys. It highlights the progress of breast cancer research and the opportunities it can create for families like theirs.

Julia said she’s keenly aware that the options available today differ from those her mother had decades ago. Research, improved understanding of risk and advances in preventative care have helped give people new ways to make informed decisions about their health.

And that progress is what gives the sisters hope for the next generation.

Julia said she thinks about her daughters and her niece, and the possibility that they may one day face a very different future. One shaped less by fear and more by knowledge, prevention and choice.

“If our story can help inspire people to want to donate, for people to understand the value of preventative medicine and research,” she said, “I think it’s so important that we not give up.”

Lila McCormick was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before last year’s C95 Radio Marathon. “I remember tuning in… and feeling sad and scared, but also feeling not alone, and hearing stories of hope,” she recalled. (Submitted)

For Lila, the C95 Radio Marathon represents that hope in action.

The annual fundraising event brings the community together to raise money for breast cancer research, helping advance the science and care that offers hope to families like hers.

A year ago, she was listening to the live broadcast for reassurance that brighter days were possible.

Today, she said she hopes sharing her own experience can offer that same encouragement to someone newly diagnosed, while reminding others why continued support for breast cancer research matters.

Above all, the sisters want people to know that a difficult diagnosis does not mean the end of hope.

Lila learned that from her mother. Julia has seen it in her sister. And both women continue to live it through the love and support they give each other.

Cancer may be part of their family history, but it is not the whole story.

And as the women look ahead, they are choosing to focus not on what they cannot change, but on what they can help change for others.

Their hope is that the next generation will inherit more than their family’s story of resilience. They will inherit a world where research has advanced even farther, preventative options are more widely understood, and fewer families have to navigate the fear that has shaped so much of their lives.

For two sisters who have already learned so much about the strength of standing together, that is a future worth fighting for.

From their mother’s diagnosis to their own surgeries, Saskatoon sisters Lila and Julia McCormick are turning a family history of breast cancer into a message of hope through C95’s Radio Marathon. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

The 27th annual C95 Radio Marathon for Breast Cancer Research is broadcasting live from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Midtown.

The C95 Radio Marathon raises funds for the Cancer Foundation of Saskatchewan in support of the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency’s local breast cancer research projects.

Since its beginning, the C95 Radio Marathon has raised more than $7.4 million toward breast cancer research in Saskatchewan.

650 CKOM is the sister station to C95.