[Becky]

I also want to add other reasons I had my ovaries removed.

1. my paternal grandmother died from ovarian cancer
2. Several cousins, 2 aunts, my mother and my sister also got breast cancer. We have all tested (some recently where there are new findings) and we are all BRCA 1 & 2 negative. However, our cluster may not be environmental as the cousins grew up in different locations. Also, many of my mother's aunts and grandmother died from "some" type of cancer. My mom thinks Breast because nobody talked out loud about sexual organs then.
3. Maybe one day our family will find that we are positive for something that is newly discovered - "BRCA 3 or BRCA 4". That said, it is well studied and researched that removing the ovaries is beneficial for those that are BRCA 1 or 2 positive. Perhaps this was "scientifically" the best thing to do.

At the time, I was very afraid of ovarian cancer which my grandma did die from. It does not have as good odds as breast cancer. There were alot of pros and peace of mind for me to do this besides going on an AI. So I do want to clarify that using an AI was not the only reason.

Hopefully the SOFT study looks at segmenting the results - those who are BRCA positive, those who are not and those who are not but have a strong family history. Doing this helps because just think if they had tested Herceptin on everybody - statistically it would have failed because it only helps a small population but not everyone and it would have failed. Oophorectomy may be life saving for a certain population of those with breast cancer. They already know it helps the BRCA 1 & 2 population.