Great News!
The company handling BRCA testing is now taking it upon themselves to figure out who could have the gene based on family history.
When you meet with genetic counselors, they go over your family tree to make sure it is up to date and add any BRCA findings to the list. I always thought this was a great way to keep track of a pattern in a family as far as genes go, but now they're taking it a step further. They will be looking through BRCA findings to figure out people who may be effected by the gene without having been tested yet.
Also they will be focusing on previously tested patients who had negative results that may in fact still have the gene (that happened to my mom when she was first tested. Dr Janicek insisted that she be retested a couple years later and sure enough, she was positive for BRCA-1). It's amazing how science is ever changing and a simple test and family tree can save so many lives.
Thank you Dr Janicek, for double checking my mom. It actually added years to her life because it qualified her for specific clinical trials. It also has given no less than 6 women in our family the knowledge of having the gene.
This is the pro active approach to cancer that is better than any drug!
Here is the story . Click on the word "story" to read about this new data share.
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