In 1995, (age 55) my routine mammogram showed suspicious
calcifications which turned out to be ductal carcinoma in situ. It was treated with a lumpectomy, followed by
radiation. In 2012, (age 72) my routine
mammogram showed suspicious calcifications in the other breast, which turned
out to be invasive ductal carcinoma.
Once again, did the lumpectomy, but followed with chemotherapy and
radiation. My Mom came from a family of
9 children. Her 2 brothers passed away
in their 70’s, one from Lymphoma and one from lung cancer. Two sisters passed away from cancer, one was
leukemia in her 70’s and the other from ovarian cancer at the age of 89. The remaining 5 children lived well into
their 80’s, and passed away from other causes.
My Mom passed away at the age of 89 from her osteoporosis, which
restricted her lung capacity. She did
have a hysterectomy back in the 1950’s.
Dad came from a family of 4 children, none of them had cancer. He passed away at the age of 87 from failure
to take his seizure medication. My
Grandfather on my Dad’s side, passed away from stomach cancer in 1952 at the
age of 84. The other 3 grandparents died
from other causes in their 80’s. A
first cousin, daughter of the uncle who passed away from lymphoma, had breast
cancer in her 50’s, 17 years ago, was tested this year for 15 mutations but is
negative on all. A first cousin,
daughter of the aunt who passed away at age 89 of ovarian cancer, had a brain
tumor around 10 years ago and this year has had a lumpectomy, she is 77. My
sister age 79, has not had cancer, has not been tested and doesn’t want to be
tested. She did have a hysterectomy when
she was in her 30’s.
In October 2013, Marie Wheeler, (daughter) going for her
annual gynecology checkup, the doctor suggested that she might want to get
tested for the BRCA mutation, because of my past cancers. Consequently, it came back that she had the
BRCA2 mutation. She shared this information
with the rest of the family and that she was going to do the surgeries to lower
her risks. The beginning of 2014 found
the remainder of the family getting tested, which showed that other daughter,
Lila Land, and two granddaughters, Nikki Wheeler and Acacia Fike-Nelson have
the mutation, plus myself. Our son,
grandson and 2 grand daughters do not.
Stats are: 5 with the mutation –
4 without the mutation.
I showed my oncologist Marie’s report on my routine visit in
January 2014 and he asked me if it turned out that I carried the mutation if I
would go ahead with what needed to be done to lower my chances. , My test results came back that I did carry
the Brca2 mutation. The oncologist
informed me as such and said that a Coordinator of Preventive Care Program for
Women’s Cancer would be contacting me to set up my appointments. I had my hysterectomy in June 2014 and my
mastectomy in August 2014. All tissues came back clear.