Breast cancer survivor's questions about genetic testing are ahead of the research.
BY Barbara Tako
PUBLISHED March 12, 2018
Barbara Tako is a breast cancer survivor (2010), melanoma survivor (2014) and author of Cancer Survivorship Coping Tools–We'll Get You Through This. She is a cancer coping advocate, speaker and published writer for television, radio and other venues across the country. She lives, survives, and thrives in Minnesota with her husband, children and dog. See more at www.cancersurvivorshipcopingtools.com or www.clutterclearingchoices.com.
When I was originally diagnosed with a "garden variety" breast cancer (ER+, PR+, HER2Neu, no lymph node involvement, no BRCA1 or BRCA2, less than 1cm) caught early on a routine mammogram almost eight years ago, I was relatively happy – for a cancer survivor that is. My understanding was that I had great odds of beating the breast cancer.
I had what I thought was an 85 percent chance that my breast cancer would not come back. I thought, “Hmm, so if you put 10 of me in a room, maybe 9 of them would never have to cope with breast cancer again.” That sounded great. Testing positive for the recently discovered PALB2 genetic mutation changed that comfort level for me. Based on preliminary information, it may mean that if there are 10 of me in that room, somewhere between 3 to 6 of me might be facing breast cancer again. That did not sound good.
I had what I thought was an 85 percent chance that my breast cancer would not come back. I thought, “Hmm, so if you put 10 of me in a room, maybe 9 of them would never have to cope with breast cancer again.” That sounded great. Testing positive for the recently discovered PALB2 genetic mutation changed that comfort level for me. Based on preliminary information, it may mean that if there are 10 of me in that room, somewhere between 3 to 6 of me might be facing breast cancer again. That did not sound good.
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