By Marleah Dean Kruzel, PhD, BRCA2 Previvor When I was eight years old, my mother found a lump in her breast – barely noticeable. For a few years, I watched her undergo chemotherapy, radiation, and a prophylactic mastectomy and reconstruction. Since then, my maternal aunt and grandmother also fought breast cancer, and we learned my …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/icare-newsletter-fall-2024-community-spotlight-the-patient-and-the-researcher-shares-her-uncertain-future-and-lessons-shes-learned/
My paternal grandparents were my heroes. Wise beyond their time, they relished teaching our familythat knowledge is power, health is everything, and love is unconditional. Back then, Prevention healthmagazine and vitamin supplements filled their mailbox and 1960’s exercise guru Jack LaLane, and health foodadvocate Euell Gibbons, beckoned new followers from a talking picture box in …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/icare-newsletter-fall-2023-community-spotlight/
Genetic testing sounded like a futuristic concept when it originally came to our attention. It sounded something to the likes of cloning. We didn’t really understand what it was and why it was important, but rather thought it sounded like something out of science fiction. Thankfully, our medical providers and genetic counselors stuck with us …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/icare-newsletter-spring-2022-community-spotlight/
When I was just 8 years old my mother was diagnosed with a very aggressive breast cancer. I didn’t reallyunderstand the concept of cancer at that age, but I knew what was happening was terrible. After manysurgeries and treatments, she passed away 2 years later at the age of 35. There was no hereditary cancertesting …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/icare-newsletter-fall-2022-community-spotlight/
At the age of 51, my first and only colonoscopy revealed 100 polyps in my colon, rectum, and anuseven though I had no symptoms or family history. I was immediately referred to a Certified GeneticCounselor at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawai’i. Germline DNA testing revealed I had attenuatedfamilial adenomatous polyposis (AFAP), due to an …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/icare-newsletter-fall-2021-community-spotlight/
The ICARE Fall 2022 Newsletter is now available! Check out this latest edition for recent research and clinical updates, a Q&A with Dr. Kamran Idrees from Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and an inspiring community spotlight piece. You can read and download a copy of the newsletter at: https://inheritedcancer.net/newsletters/ Please feel free to share with family members, …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post110422/
In every ICARE newsletter we feature a 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 to share their experience with inherited cancer. In the latest edition, Dan Dry Dock Shockley, shares his experience with attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis (AFAP). Check out his full story at 👇https://inheritedcancer.net/community-spotlight/
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post123021/
My genes don’t define me. I am AliveAndKickn. Pretty bold statement. AliveAndKickn is more than just a name. It’s a way of life. I joke that Lynch Syndrome is the genetic predisposition to colon cancer, endometrial cancer, other cancers…and soccer. But that’s just me. Besides half a dozen surgeries since 1997, I have and still play and coach the game I love. …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnlw2021/
PTEN is one of the body’s tumor suppressor genes, which controls cell growth. When a PTEN mutation is present, cells may grow uncontrollably, causing tumors to develop that may become cancerous. A patient born with a PTEN mutation is at high risk for developing breast, thyroid, kidney, colon, and endometrial cancer. My PTEN journey began …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnls2020/
In every ICARE Newsletter we feature an ICARE participant as a community spotlight. Our community spotlight in our Winter 2016 ICARE Newsletter is Mari-Lynn Slayton, who was found to have a PALB2 mutation after two breast cancer diagnoses. Check out her story at: https://inheritedcancer.net/community-spotlight/
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post70220/
June is cancer survivor month! In every ICARE Newsletter we feature an ICARE participant as a community spotlight. Our community spotlight in our Winter 2019 ICARE Newsletter is Kelly Frank, who was found to have a BRIP1 mutation after an ovarian cancer diagnosis. Check out her story at: https://inheritedcancer.net/community-spotlight/
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post62320/
In every ICARE Newsletter we feature an ICARE participant as a community spotlight. Our community spotlight in our Summer 2018 ICARE Newsletter is Patricia Blumenthal, who was found to have a BRCA2 mutation. Check out her story at: https://inheritedcancer.net/community-spotlight/
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post61620/
In every ICARE Newsletter we feature an ICARE participant as a community spotlight. Our latest community spotlight in our Winter 2017 ICARE Newsletter is Christy Mattey, who was found to have a CHEK2 mutation after a breast cancer diagnosis. Check out her story at: https://inheritedcancer.net/community-spotlight/
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post60920/
June is Cancer Survivor Month! In every ICARE Newsletter we feature an ICARE participant as a community spotlight. Our latest community spotlight in our Summer 2017 ICARE Newsletter is Terry Arnold, who was found to have a BRCA1 mutation after a breast cancer diagnosis. Check out her story at: https://inheritedcancer.net/community-spotlight/
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/post60220/
Life was great at 45. I had nothing more than a few headaches and was a tad overweight. After a friend was diagnosed with breast cancer, I realized I had not had a mammogram in a couple of years, so I scheduled an appointment. One mass was found, but it was benign and nothing to …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnls2019/
When I was 50 years old I was in pretty good physical shape and I thought I was finally getting six pack abs. I was wrong – those abs were a large football sized tumor, along with a variety of smaller tumors. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer. I had a hysterectomy and fibroid removal …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnlw2019/
I was aware from a very young age that breast cancer was part of our family. I knew that my great-grandmother (whom I never met) had breast cancer and my grandmother was diagnosed in her 50’s. While I didn’t grow up being afraid of the disease, I was far more aware of it than were …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnls2018/
A cancer diagnosis is a life-changing event for every patient and their extended family. However, how we respond to this diagnosis are as individual as our very existence as evidenced by our looks and personalities. Following my diagnosis of stage 4 prostate cancer in 2014 at age 54 which had spread to my bones, I …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnlw2018/
After a long rainy summer filled with doctor visits, I was finally diagnosed with triple-negative inflammatory breast cancer (TN IBC) at the age of 49. I completed treatment in June 2008 and was grateful to have a new phase to my vocabulary – NED, ‘no evidence of disease’. Since there was no cancer history in my …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnls2017/
On my 43rd birthday I was diagnosed with an advanced stage breast cancer. Although my BRCA1 and BRCA2 results were surprisingly negative, I was certain there must be a genetic component to my breast cancer since I was diagnosed at a fairly young age. I remained in contact with my geneticist, Dr. Georgia Wiesner, and …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnlw2017/
When I was diagnosed with cancer the first time at age 38, my sister (a breast cancer survivor since the age of 29) was positive we had a BRCA gene mutation. However, after we both had genetic testing done in 2006 the results showed we didn’t. Doctors said they were surprised we did not have a mutation in one of …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnls2016/
I was first diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 56 years old. Because of my strong family history of breast cancer, I was referred for genetic counseling and had BRCA testing at that time. Recently, I was diagnosed with breast cancer again. When I went to see my surgeon, she advised me to have more genetic …
Permanent link to this article: https://inheritedcancer.net/spotlightnlw2016/
