DRAPER, Utah — Melody Turner is a wife, mother and grandmother in Utah, and no matter who you ask, she's known as the life of the party. Like most grandma's houses, hers is known as the headquarters for all the celebrations.
"We love to do the holidays," she said. "Especially when Halloween comes around. I love entertaining especially if it's with my kids."
Watch: 'Go and get that mammogram': One Utah breast cancer survivor urges people to get their mammograms — not matter their age
But one day, after taking her grandkids to the movies, she felt a lump.
“When I got home I felt a lump just right under there. And you know almost immediately," she said.
Her mind was racing, wondering when she got her last mammogram.
"I had always heard after 70 you didn’t need those," she said.
But Melody was 74. She waited a bit before getting it checked, hoping it would go away, but it didn't.
"When I was told it was cancer, I was like no this can’t be happening to me I’m too healthy," she said.
So suddenly her life became appointments and decisions, thrust into a fight against the second leading cause of cancer death for women. She met Dr. Ally Parnes, a diagnostic radiologist at Lone Peak Hospital in Draper, who essentially hunts for the cancer in one's body. Years ago, Dr. Parnes fought through breast cancers herself and won.
"Knowing that her doctor told her she didn’t need to get a mammogram, she could have found it smaller, earlier," Dr. Parnes said.
Turner decided to do a double mastectomy, reconstruction and another surgery to remove a concerning margin. Her doctor said that if she had the second surgery, she'd have an 85% survival rate.
“I decided that at 74, 85 % was fine," she said. "I said you know what I’m not giving up life. Now that I know there’s going to be an end. I’m going to make every minute of this life count.”
So Turner did what Turner does, which is to celebrate every occasion with her family and friends. Just a few days before surgery, she threw a party.
"Three days before my surgery we had a huge party," she said. "And two days before my surgery we celebrated Mardi gras”
And then after her surgery, she didn't stop there.
"And in April, we went to Stagecoach festival in California," Turner said.
On Sept. 30, 2025, she got the call worth celebrating — she was finally cancer free.
"My nurse navigator told me I was a breast cancer survivor officially," she said. "It was a huge weight off my shoulders."
But now it's about watching if it comes back and being able to work through that.
"It's always in the back of my mind," she said.
She said she advocates heavily for women to go get the mammograms very consistently.
"Go grab you friends and make it fun," she said.
Because through her journey, she learned that breast cancer doesn't care about age.
"A number isn’t a reason to stop getting a mammogram because the risk of getting breast cancer goes up," Dr. Parnes said.