,,, it's good to know that Miss Measures has a good support network.
Posted on 07/01/2004 6:28:06 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
A young woman whose mother had her healthy breasts removed after it was found that she carried hereditary cancer genes is to undergo the same operation.
Becky Measures, 22, said she will have a double mastectomy after tests showed that she had a 90 per cent chance of contracting the disease in later life.
Her mother, Wendy Watson, became one of the first women in Britain to have a double mastectomy on healthy breasts.
The decision by Miss Measures, who works as a DJ on Peak 107 FM in Chesterfield, Derbys, is thought to be the first case of a daughter undergoing the same operation as her mother.
She said: "My mother had a double mastectomy 11 years ago although she hadn't got breast cancer and genetic tests at that time were in their infancy.
"It has been a major part of family life since I was very young. My grandmother and great grandmother died from breast cancer. At 22 it was a hard decision to make but I have grown up with it and I have just got to get on with it. My chances of catching breast cancer are minimal at the moment but as time goes on it would get more worrying.
"Before it gets to that stage it is better to get it out of the way. My boyfriend, family and friends are very supportive and it helps that my mum went through with the operation at 38."
She added: "Other family members have contracted breast cancer in their 30s and 40s so I have this large support network and the doctors have been fantastic. The surgeons carry out wonderful breast reconstruction jobs at the same time as the operation and their work is unbelievable.
"I have a lot to live for. This is my way of giving myself a future. A lot of women do not have the opportunity. I see it as a privilege."
Mrs Watson, 49, from Bakewell, Derbys, said: "When I had my double mastectomy it wasn't even recognised that breast cancer could be hereditary.
"When I discovered that nine family members had suffered breast cancer I went to my GP and asked what could be done.
"I had this awful feeling I was waiting to get breast cancer and hoping I had caught it in time."
After her operation, Mrs Watson set up the Genesis Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline for women.
She has recently sat on a panel for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence developing guidelines for women at high risk of breast cancer.
Have you ever prayed, or have you been too busy idolizing one of your own.
Well, sort of, and not really. She's having preventive surgery at 22 for a cancer she doesn't have and may never have. She has a 10% chance of never getting it. Sounds a tad extreme to me. Seems she could hold off until at least the kids are born and nursed.
"Have you ever prayed, or have you been too busy idolizing one of your own."
What are you talking about? I gave my opinion. What does idolizing or praying have to do with this?
"With drastic medical advances being made almost DAILY..."
Regrettably, the overwhelming majority of advances are merely incremental, especially in oncology. Extending patient survival (in late stages) by a few months is counted as a major advance and trumpeted to the max, both in the media and in the stock market. So her choice was either to hope and wait for a revolutionary advance (and who knows when it is coming - exponentially skyrocketing costs of pharmaceutical R&D mean that most of the easy pickings have already been accomplished) or to take a plunge and save herself the trouble of waiting. She chose the latter, and her decision cannot be called irrational.
The Hippocratic oath taken by them may have something to do with that.
10% means one chance in ten of NOT getting it, and as other posters have pointed out, breast cancer is very aggressive - it nearly killed my mother at 30. Assuming that the test is reliable (always a big if, granted), I think her decision is rational, if heartbreaking.
Well placed trust.
Where do you place yours?
Sorry for the confusion I have placed upon you.
So you've seen the research?
Have you thought about what you've just said?
This lady is going to have her breasts removed without having anything wrong with them. They don't DO that on the NHS. (National Health Service). This is a private medical op.
If she can afford to get this done privately. She can afford to get regular breast screening done privately.
Socialist medicare doesn't enter into it.
"Well placed trust.
Where do you place yours?
Sorry for the confusion I have placed upon you."
What is this, 20 questions? Do me a favor, take me off your loony radar screen.
I think I'll have my womb out now, just in case potential great grand children get the 'flu.
One can never be too careful, ye know! ;-)
As for the NHS, I am not familiar enough with it to know they would not do this operation.
Thanks for the info
,,, it's good to know that Miss Measures has a good support network.
I wouldn't board a plane that has a 10% chance of crashing!
Who does one approach to find the answers to choose the "percentage appropriate" aircraft?
Done
A small African nation could live in that bikini! *L*
sw
,,, I was kind of living in the hope that I was further up the pecking order than any of the nations you had in mind.
You are a sick, sick man! ;-)
Maybe you should think about having that removed! *LOL* ;-)
,,, thanx for the quick recognition.
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