The Bourget sisters (L to R): Jill, Robyn and Lori are all cancer survivors because they got genetic testing.
No one ever wants to hear “You have cancer.” I heard these words in September of 2020, but this is not where my journey began. My personal story starts in 2012 when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was the second diagnosis in my immediate family of six. Sadly, my mother lost her battle in 2013.
Because of the two diagnoses in the family, it was recommended that our family undergo genetic testing. I was just 36 years old when I found out, along with my two sisters and father, that we were carriers of the BRCA II gene mutation. Hearing that you are a carrier for a gene mutation with a high risk of cancer (in our case ovarian, breast, prostate, and skin cancer) brings about its own series of fears and concerns. Luckily, knowing I was a gene carrier also opened many options for monitoring and prevention. My family all made personal decisions based on what was best for each of us. Some of us chose monitoring, some surgical intervention and one chose to not be tested. Whether you get tested and what you choose to do with the information is a very personal decision and there is no right or wrong answer, but knowledge is power.
Bob and Patty Bourget. Cancer took Patty’s life, but not before it prompted the family to undergo genetic testing. Bob is a breast cancer survivor because of it.
I immediately chose to have surgery to lower my risk for ovarian cancer. At that same time, I opted for enhanced monitoring for breast cancer and skin cancer. For many years this consisted of six-month visits with the breast care center, annual mammograms, annual breast MRIs, and annual skin checks with the dermatologist.
Finding out you are a carrier for the BRCA II mutation does not just open fears about yourself, but also for future generations. This means there is potential impact for my children, my grandchildren and so on. I am thankful to know and have a care team at New England Cancer Specialists that I can turn to and seek advice from for helping my children navigate testing and support them as they decide what to do with the information they are given.
If I had not made the decision eight years prior to my diagnosis to be genetically tested, I would not have had the mammogram that detected my cancer until approximately age 50. I was diagnosed at age 44. At the time of diagnosis, my disease, which coincidentally did not show up on my tests just a year prior, was so advanced it had spread into my lymph nodes, and I had not one but two tumors. If I had not had the knowledge that I carried the gene, if I had not been monitored, I am not sure I would be here as I celebrated my 47th birthday this year.
If you have a family history of breast cancer, talk to your doctor about genetic testing. Genetic testing and New England Cancer Specialists, along with my strength and will to fight, saved my life. I am a survivor, because I knew.
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