Ok, so brief history…my sister was 28 when diagnosed grade3 classed as triple negative because er score very low. She died when she was 32. Despite annual screening due to family history I was diagnosed age 45 with grade 2 small tumour but one positive node.(had lumpectomy, chemo and rads) I took the myriad gene test earlier this year after a second opinion at the London breast clinic. It came back negative for brca but a gene called ATM showed a variant of unknown significance. My consultant and the genetics team at st George’s cannot tell me if this caused the bc because there is not enough information… i then decided to have my ovaries removed which I had done in October. On the day of my operation my other sister who is 43 had a biopsy done for a suspected benign condition called granulomatous , (her breast was bright red) this came back negative but by chance they found she had lobular neoplasia which basically is a sign of breastcancer. It’s graded 1-6 (I think) 1 being benign and 6 being malignant she scored 3. She will almost certainly have a double mastectomy as a result. So that is now 3 out of 3 of us. Our mum is fine as is our dad, one aunt who is fine and two cousins are fine. I am finding all of this very difficult to live with as I am convinced we must have some kind of genetic link…nobody can give me any advice apart from continue with annual mammograms but I feel I’m a bit of a ticking bomb …what would you do ? Any thoughts/advice gratefully received . Michelle xx
My sister and I have had several breast cancers between us and also my dad’s sister but no genetic link found as yet. My other sister has been fine. To be honest if I get another recurrence I will definitely get a double mastectomy.
Hi Mickey
I have two sisters. None of our family had gene tests. One sister was slim and ate healthily. Her breast cancer was caught early during a routine mammogram, she had a mastectomy, she is 80 years of age and still alive. My cancer was discovered when I went for a routine mammogram, I have been given the all-clear and I am doing well. My other sister is elderly, overweight and does absolutely everything we are advised not to i.e.she eats lots of chocolate, crisps, sweets, sugary drinks, convenience food laden with hidden fat and is a bit of a couch potato but so far she has not developed cancer. I also had a brother who developed a different type of cancer. He died in the middle of his treatment due to an unrelated medical condition. Are you thinking along the lines of having a preventative mastectomy? Unfortunately cancer is very unpredictable and in the end only you can decide what to do but please continue with the mammograms because I had become rather complacent after several negative results and I nearly cancelled mine - thank heaven I didn’t!
Hi again, my sister’s first tumour was when she was 33. She had chemo, lumpectomy, Lymph nodes removed, radiotherapy, zoladex and tamoxifen for 2 years. She had some lymph node involvement. About 14 years later she had a mastectomy for dcis. Recently she has had another very small tumour for which she had chemo and a mastectomy. She was tested for the brac gene. It wS negative.
I had dcis in my 40s for which I had radiotherapy only then 6 years later had a 2cm invasive tumour in the other breast. I then had chemo, herceotin, radiotherapy and a lumpectomy. I took tamoxifen for 2 years ( though 5 was advised). My middle sister has been cancer free so far.
One thing that links the 2 of us that have had breast cancer is difficulty breast feeding. Both of us tried but we both had awful engirgement and mastitis. I have a strong feeling this may have down the seed for our ducal tumours. My cancer free sister managed to breast feed successfully.
I’ve not been offered and genetic test as my dusters test were negative. With the increasing number of breast cancers diagnosed it’s probably not uncommon for siblings to have tumours but no genetic propensity.