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JUNEAU - Julie Lawrenson's Relay for Life team name sums up her fight against inflammatory breast cancer in three simple words: Kickin' Cancer's Ass.

The 46-year-old Juneau resident has survived an especially rare and aggressive form of cancer.

"I just knew I wasn't going to die from it," she said. "It was a job I just had to do, just do it and get it over with."

Surviving inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) is no easy job. According to the National Cancer Institute, the five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with IBC between 1988 and 2001 was only about 40 percent.

IBC "just moves quicker than crap," Lawrenson said, usually reaching stage 3 or 4 before it is even diagnosed. IBC is quite rare, making up less than 4 percent of all breast cancer cases, and doesn't look or feel like other forms of cancer, so it is often difficult to diagnose. Unlike more common breast cancers, IBC rarely causes a breast lump and often will not show up on a mammograms.

"It doesn't look like cancer, and that's why people die from it," Lawrenson said. "Cancer isn't supposed to hurt, and this hurts."

Lawrenson was initially diagnosed with mastitis, a type of breast infection, but this diagnosis didn't seem right to her. Her husband, Ken, did some Internet research and turned up the possibility of IBC. They decided she needed a biopsy.

"I didn't sit around waiting for someone else to tell me what to do," Lawrenson said. Two biopsies and a trip to Seattle later, she received the diagnosis of IBC.

"You can see it in your doctor's face even before the test comes back," she said.

Lawrenson immediately resolved to fight back: "My focus was to get it out." She and her husband left their dogs and home in Juneau and rented an apartment in Seattle for 10 months while she underwent round after round of chemotherapy.

"I didn't ever, ever miss (a treatment)," she said. "I wanted to get it over with and get home."

Not wanting to take any risks of the cancer spreading, Lawrenson chose to have both breasts removed. "I just didn't want to be that person who the doctor tells, 'You've got cancer again,'" she said.

She's now been a survivor for 16 months. When she looks in the mirror today she doesn't see cancer - "the cancer's gone" - but she's changed in many ways, both physically and emotionally. Her eyesight has worsened considerably, she still has leg and bone pain, and she says she still feeling the effects of "chemo brain," a term often used to describe memory and thinking problems after cancer treatments.

On the other hand, she says she's healthier and happier than she was before cancer, has lost 40 pounds, and plans to live until at least 100.

She also has come to appreciate what a supportive community Juneau is. She and her husband moved to Juneau from Oregon in 2006, but she said, "It took getting cancer for this town to grow on me." She is especially grateful to her coworkers at the state who donated leave to support her the entire time she was in Seattle for treatment.

Back home in Juneau, Lawrenson got involved as a volunteer with the planning committee for the annual Relay for Life, the biggest fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. When the committee needed a new event chair at the last minute, Lawrenson stepped up.

"I'm lucky to be alive," she said. "I have to give back."

Relay for Life is a 24-hour event to celebrate cancer survivors, remember those lost to cancer, and fight back through raising funds for the American Cancer Society. Team members take turns walking around a track from noon Saturday, June 10, through noon on Sunday, June 11. The idea is that "cancer doesn't get to sleep, so neither do you," Lawrenson said.

Lawrenson said she is grateful for all the improvements in cancer treatments that have been made over the years, thanks to the research supported by the American Cancer Society and other organizations.

"I wouldn't wish (cancer) on my worst enemy, but it wasn't as bad as it (would have been) 20 years ago," she said.

Katie Spielberger may be reached at katie.spielberger@capweek.com.