BRACA-1 / BRACA-2 Screen

It is certainly not too late to be tested. BRCA 1 and 2 testing can be done on DNA extracted for a blood sample or from a buccal swab. NCCN guidelines for who should be offered testing were updated in April 2011. Generally if the guidelines are followed, insurance will cover the testing.

Myriad will provide testing kits to a doctor's office to facilitate the sample being sent in.

When you've watched every other woman in your family be diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer, you just know that your risk is not average or random. Despite that, it took a good deal of time and insistence on my part to convince my siblings to undergo testing with me. Ultimately, 5 out of 7 of us (including me) were confirmed to be BRCA2 carriers. We all respond differently. Some of my siblings just didn't want to know.

In the future, I would love to get more involved in educating young and underprivileged women who are either newly diagnosed with breast cancer or who have found out that they are high risk and have the BRCA gene mutation, but I'm not sure what that involvement might look like.

My initial goal right now is to finish writing my book (I am sweating through the third draft) and to start a Not For Profit to help cancer survivors volunteer oversees.

As part of this work, I would like the chance to volunteer again myself and work with women experiencing breast cancer in third world countries.

After I have these two ventures off the ground, I would love to have the opportunity to speak to groups of young women and educate them about screening and awareness. Particularly close to my heart would be to form some sort of support system for BRCA gene mutation carriers as I know how challenging it is to live with the risks and the fear of both breast and ovarian cancer.

If you have any ideas about how I can get more involved, please let me know. I would love to connect further!