I first met Lyn Denny, MD, PhD, in Ghana, in 2004, when she became the Secretary Treasurer of AORTIC and brought the organization back to life. We’ve been friends ever since.

I equate Lyn’s unwavering dedication to bringing health equity to women in Africa to Nelson Mandela’s fight for social justice and his determination to end apartheid in South Africa. She was a true freedom fighter in the Mandela tradition. Here was this White woman who saw that women were dying from cervical cancer—a highly preventable disease with the proper screening and treatment—and she vowed to reduce the incidence and mortality rates of the disease and save lives. And she fulfilled that goal.

Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, MD, FACP

I grew up in Nigeria during apartheid. I remember being in medical school; the talk around campus was always about breaking South Africa from the grip of apartheid. To have an opportunity to meet a White woman from the country who was committed to helping Black women prevent cancer was unimaginable to me.

Having Access to Health Care Is a Fundamental Human Right

Over the 10 years Lyn served as the Secretary Treasurer of AORTIC, we worked closely on the education subcommittee to train more young oncologists to practice in South Africa.

I remember visiting Lyn in Khayelitsha with my two daughters: Feyi, then a successful investment banker in New York City, and Dayo, an accomplished author and journalist.

Lyn took us to where she had opened a cervical cancer screening and prevention clinic in a converted shipping container that was adjacent to a local primary health-care center. This is where Lyn compared the use of Pap tests with other types of cervical cancer screening methods to determine what is most effective in a low-resource setting.

Standing in front of the makeshift clinic, Lyn said to Feyi, “You make money and that’s okay. You can help fund us because these women need so much, so don’t forget about them.” And then she turned to Dayo and said, “You can write about us, so the world will know about Africa and what we are doing to support one another as women.”

I will never forget the four of us standing in front of this shipping container, marveling at what Lyn had accomplished with such limited resources. All my young daughters could say was what an amazing woman Lyn was. Lyn was colorblind—to her, accessibility to good health care wasn’t about being Black or White. Health equity, she believed, is a fundamental human right.

She devoted her entire life to studying diseases of poor girls and women, and was tireless in her research efforts to reduce the cancer burden, especially in low-resource settings.

Examining a Life Well Lived

I last saw Lyn in person on February 27, 2023, and spent the day with her in Cape Town. Although she was coping with metastatic breast cancer, her spirit remained undaunted.

“We’ve worked very hard,” said Lyn. “Now, I have picked up calligraphy and I want to have time to draw and paint and read poetry.”

She was such a remarkable human being. Her influence and commitment to improving the life of young girls and women across Africa will be felt for decades to come. Lyn was an amazing woman, scientist, physician, and friend.

I will never forget her.

Dr. Olopade is the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine, Professor of Medicine Human Genetics, and Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health at the University of Chicago Medicine.

Disclosure: Dr. Olopade reported no conflicts of interest.