Another birthday has come and gone for me. I’ve now begun the next decade of my life. I won’t tell you which decade, but if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you probably know or could figure it out if you wanted to and I’m pretty sure no one cares that much to …
Search results for: the day I found out i am brca positive
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 …
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 …
Gene patenting is in the news once again. This issue isn’t going away any time soon. In my opinion, this debate boils down to one simple question. Should one company, in this case, Myriad Genetics, be allowed to patent human genes when lives are at stake? It seems as if there is a simple answer here …
Last November I was contacted by a journalism student attending Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. She was working on a paper about BRCA gene mutation testing, the monopolies held by two genetic testing companies and the recent controversial rulings on patents. She also wanted to include some thoughts and insights from a person directly influenced …