Friday, July 17, 2009

For Gen Y woman with cancer risk, 'it's just a boob' - CNN.com

It's Saturday night. Three young women are dressed to the nines at a trendy bistro on Rush Street in downtown Chicago. They're having drinks outside on the kind of summer night that makes you fall in love with the city.

"They call this 'Viagra triangle,'" Lindsay Avner says, to peals of laughter.

On this night, these twentysomethings aren't thinking about flirting, though. They are thinking about issues most women their age don't: life insurance and freezing their eggs.

Tonight Avner is talking to two sisters from Dallas, Texas, about their imminent genetic testing to see whether they have the BRCA gene mutations that will predispose them to developing breast and ovarian cancer.

Avner, 26, knows what they're going through. She tested positive for the gene three years ago.

Women with the BRCA gene mutations have a 60 to 80 percent chance of developing breast cancer -- at least five times higher than the general population -- according to the American Cancer Society. Additionally, these women have up to a 60 percent chance of getting ovarian cancer in their lifetime.

"I know you're scared. It's a scary thing," Avner says. She has told her story dozens, even hundreds, of times but says she never tires of it.

"I'm trying to stay positive," says one of the sisters who recently found out that her dad carries the gene passed down from his mom, who had breast cancer. "I keep telling myself that it's better to know and be ready."

Women with the inherited mutations have an increased risk of developing these cancers at a young age, before menopause, and often have multiple close family members with the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute.

"The funny thing is that nothing in your body has changed the day you hear the results," Avner says, reflecting on the experience of hearing a positive test result. "You were either born with it or you weren't. You are just going armed with more knowledge."

That genetic knowledge convinced Avner to undergo a prophylactic double mastectomy when she was 23. The surgery involves removing as much of the at-risk tissue as possible, in order to reduce the chance of developing cancer. A year later she started an organization to educate young women about breast cancer and preventive health, Bright Pink.

"It's something our parents and grandparents didn't have available," Avner said. Every female member of the family, from aunts to her grandmother, died from the disease.

More ...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/07/17/gen.y.breast.cancer/