Breast cancer?

[farign]

I am going thru breast cancer. My daughter is 10. Is there a test to see if she carries the gene. As far as I know, breast cancer does not run in the family. What does this mean and what are the chances of my daughter developing breast cancer?

[madubois63]

Yes, there is a test to see if your daughter carries the BRAC gene. It's called the BRAC analysis test. Ask your doc about it. You should move this question to the message boards to get more input on this. I personally have thought long and hard about getting the test for my daughter and have decided against it for now. In my opinion, too many young women getting a positive result from this test decide to have double mastectomies, hysterectomies and drive themselves crazy with fear of the day they will get bc. A test can't tell you when. what if they weren't going to get it until they were 95 and they could have lived a full life with breasts and children? Things are moving so quickly in the cancer world. what if they come up with a cure the minute after surgery?? That would be my luck...I am sure you will get arguements for both sides of this issue. I am holding out for the vaccine and cure. My family has dealt with enough. I am not adding the stress of something that could happen sometime way in the future. My daughter has gotten the HPV vaccine, she will get her first mammo at 25 and has learned self exam and awareness (my head is not in the sand as some may think). I have even taught my son self exam because men do get bc too...

[Sandy in Silicon Valley]

Dear Farign,

Do you have a family history of breast/ ovarian/ prostate/ stomach cancer?

If not, my impression has been that it's a very small risk that you have a BRCA 1 or 2 mutation.

If you DID have one of the known mutations, it only means that you have a higher likelihood of being diagnosed with bc during your lifetime.

For the average woman, the risk is somewhere between 12-17%. For a woman with a BRCA 1 or 2 mutation, the risk is, I think, 50-70%. That does NOT mean that every woman who carries a BRCA mutation is going to be dx'd with bc in her lifetime.

Even if you DID carry one of the predisposing mutations, your daughter would only have a 50-50 chance of having it as well, since she got half of her chromosomes from her father.

My mother was dx'd with bc at age 55, I was dx'd at age 44, my grandmother died of colon cancer in her 70's, and 4 out of her 5 siblings had some sort of related cancer - cervical, uterine, prostate, stomach. It was only after discovering this information that I got tested in 1997. I have three grown daughters, and only one has been genetically tested for the BRCA1 mutated gene that I have, so far. The determining factor is: Would she do anything differently, medically, if she found out she carried the mutation? Such as preventive double mastectomies, hysterectomy, ooperectomy, going on Tamoxifen or an AI - BEFORE being diagnosed with bc? In any case, age ten seems way too early, to me, to deal with that kind of information/ choice.

Also, it's unfortunately a reality that there's still a chance of health insurance discrimination, if your daughter is diagnosed with a pre-existing condition, which some companies consider a genetic predisposition to particular diseases. So when she becomes independent, if she needs private, individual insurance, she could be refused.

For all of these reasons, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't go for genetic testing.

(((hugs)))
Sandy in Silicon Valley

[farign]

Thanks in advance.

[farign]

You're welcome and thanks so much!

[farign]

I'm honoring you for your hard work and I'm glad your doing this. Every person should do something kind to one other who really needs it.
What do you mean free materials for breast cancer awareness?

Other than that, here is some advice.
1. You should make a poster and add short phrases of informatino about breastcancer when you sell the pink ribbons and broshures. Everyone should be aware of breast cancer.
2. Send e-mails to all your friends and family to aware of this deadly cacner.
3. Other than selling pink ribbons, do a bake sale...if appropriate.

[farign]

My mom's cousin sister, who died of bilateral breastcarcinoma. Is this relative close enough to me that can beadded to my family history of cancer, I am worried becauseI have fibroadenomas recurring at this age (age 28), had 3previous benign lumpectomies?

[harrie]

Farign,
It is not impossible, but improbable that you carry the breast cancer gene with the family history your wrote about.
I do have a strong family history of breast cancer and a history of it myself. I was NOT going to be tested because I thought I was being monitered close enough and I assumed that was sufficient enough for me. I have 2 sisters and they were interested in knowing if they had the gene and they have never had br ca. It made the most sense for me to be tested first because I had DCIS twice, so for their sake, I had myself tested. The reason for this is because if I am tested +, then for their testing, all they had to do was look for the defective part of my results and for my sisters it meant their testing would become much less extensive and more narrowed down, looking for the defect that I had (if that makes sense to you). (I will be glad to reword this for a better explanation if anyone is interested)
After genetic counselling, I discovered that if I am tested positive, my survellience would be different, it would consist of annual MRI's and annual mammograms.
So I was tested and it turned out to be positive for BRCA2. My sisters then were tested (50/50 chance they also carried the gene) and they were both tested neg. My daughter (50/50 chance also) tested negative.
My genetic testing ran about $3,000, although my insurance picked it all up, and my sisters and daughters test ran around $300.
I hope this information benefited you.
Remember, just because you test positive is not a guarantee you will get br ca and it also holds true that if you are not a carrier of the BRCA gene it is not an assurance that you will not get breast cancer.
Maryanne

[janet/FL]

Maryanne
That was a very clear explanation for me though I won't need it for my particular case as I don't have children and neither do my siblings. Thanks

[tousled1]

Fargin,

Have you been tested for the BRCA 1 and 2 genes yourself? It would be futile to have your daughter tested if you were not tested or if you were negative. Most HER2 cancers do not tend to be hereditary. I have a very strong family history of both breast and oarian cancer on both sides of my family and I esed negative.