Please can anyone send any long-term BRCA2 success stories? I have found out about the mutation two years after my cancer diagnosis. I missed the window for olaparib because of this. I am taking abemaciclib, though I now have no faith it’s doing much/targeted to brca. It was grade 3 and in my lymph nodes so I’m back in a spiral having found out I have the mutation also.
Thanks
I don’t have a long term story I’m afraid, as I have found out about my gene recently myself. However, my oncologist was quite sure it wouldn’t make much sense for me to continue any medication once I’ve finish chemotherapy as we hope for a complete response (and I am also leaning towards double mastectomy). Of course I’m sure your doctor has a good reason to prescribe further therapy and I would trust them.
We’re in the same boat and I firmly believe that you’ll be fine!
For me personally the risk of ovarian cancer (in my case it was 40%) was more difficult to deal with. What did your genetics test say on this? I’ve found it helpful to discuss the risk mitigation plan with a gynaecologist and agree the timeline for the surgery.
They said 40% risk of ovarian and 60% risk of another primary breast cancer. My oncologist said she’s read mixed things about whether the mutation makes relapse more likely. I was given further therapy as I was high grade and stage. Was yours a hormone positive cancer or trip neg?
I’ve got triple negative but early stage (no lymph nodes), so I guess that’s the reason why no further treatment is required. Also 60% relapse which I hope to mitigate through a mastectomy.
Hi @helen39 My case is similar to yours. Grade 3, ER+HER2-, 3 nodes involved. I am/was stage 3, as tumour was quite big as well. I was going to have abemaciclib (on top of the usual Zoladex + AI + Zoledronic acid combo), but found out I was BRC2 in time to get Olaparib. I’ve been on it for 5 months now. My oncologist is considering giving me abemaciclib or another drug of the same class after Olaparib. It freaks me out to have so many drugs, but I’m very very anxious about recurrence, so will take anything thrown at me. There are women in my family (the BRCA2 side) who had breast cancer and are fine/disease free 18 years after. They were a much earlier stage though. So I’m curious to see if someone will respond here. My oncologist seems to imply our odds are slightly worse, but I’ve seen several articles saying it isn’t… Did you have a double mastectomy? I still have one breast, so once I finish Olaparib the first thing is to decide whether to do the other breast or ovaries+tubes first. x