Many Opt for Surgery to Lower Breast, Ovarian Cancer Risk

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I write this note one month after having a proactive double mastectomy and in the process of reconstruction. I will be 52 next week. My two daughters ages, 33 and 36 were diagnosed with cancer a year ago within 3 weeks of each other. The younger with Stage 1 breast cancer and the older with Stage 3 Ovarian cancer. My younger daughter's reconstruction is complete and she is more than content with her reconstruction. My older daughter went through chemo last winter and did well. However she had a recurrence and is again on chemo. Six years ago I had a fallopian tube cancer, also a possibility for BRCA 1 carriers, but not very common.
24 years ago my mother died at 48 from Ovarian cancer.2 years ago my younger sister died at age 44, also from Ovarian cancer.
I have two granddaughters and 3 grandsons. As they are young, we do not know yet if they are carriers of the gene. We pray that they are not, but the possibilities are high that they are. When the girls are older we will talk to them of the alternatives: ovary and breast removal and deciding to have children at a young age, or opting not to have children at all.
The decisions have not been easy for us, but then again we are strong and pragmatic women. We do not feel sorry for ourselves but thank God that we have excellent medical care at the Neag Cancer Center at the UConn Health Center in Connecticut. We are more than fortunate that we also have excellent health insurance.
Every woman has to make the decision on her own and not be pushed or prodded into one by doctors. But so far we are all happy with our choices and that we are still alive. Please remember my older daughter in your prayers and all of us,women and men who carry these genes.
And please if you have a mother, daughter, sister, aunt or grandmother who has died or survived these cancers, do not hesitate to get the gene testing done. It is now Federal law that insurance companies cannot use the presence of such genes as a pre-existing condition. Nor, can employers discriminate on the basis of gene testing.

Kay of CT 9:25PM August 08, 2009