It’s an unsettling feeling to be living under the BRCA2+ cloud – to be a member of the tainted gene pool club. Most breast cancers are not directly linked to hereditary risk factors; rather most are considered to be sporadic. In fact, less than 10% are attributed to gene mutations. How did I land in …
Hereditary cancer
I am pleased and excited to offer not one, but two guest posts this week during Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Week. The first is from previvor Helen Smith. Helen faced her astoundingly painful family history of cancer head on and made tough life-altering decisions to try to keep cancer at bay. Thank you, Helen, …
Since Angelina Jolie announced to the world she had undergone a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy, it seems like hereditary breast and ovarian cancers have been in the news more. A celebrity spin on any topic generates buzz on a whole new level. In this case, it’s mostly a good thing, and again, I applaud Ms. Jolie for …
By now probably almost everyone has heard or read about the Supreme Court’s decision on June 13th to strike down Myriad Genetics’ patents on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. In case you haven’t, you can catch up here or here. All nine Supreme Court Judges concurred on this one; the decision was unanimous. Did we …
When Angelina Joilie’s story broke last week, I knew I had to get going on this post. Her story was the perfect lead in. Some call Angelina a hero; I’m not sure I’d say that, but I certainly do applaud her decision to go public about her prophylactic bilateral mastectomy. Enough about her, though. I’d …