I am still a woman - Confessions of a twice cancer survivor - my journey by Nina Ann McCurley

 I have this gene, I thought this was interesting.... It is an article from 2011 As time goes on they know more and more... NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Screening for mutations in a gene known as CHEK2 may help determine a woman's odds of breast cancer if the disease runs in her family, Polish scientists suggested Monday. A woman harboring a CHEK2 mutation, for instance, would have a 34 percent risk of developing breast cancer if her mother or sister had the disease, they estimate. But U.S. experts said the test isn't ready for prime time yet, and emphasized that Polish women might be different from Americans. "It would be premature to tell women that you should all go out and get CHEK2 screening," said Dr. James P. Evans, editor-in-chief of the American College of Medical Genetics' journal Genetics in Medicine. Still, he called the study "a nice start." Women with a suspicious pattern of breast or ovarian cancer in the fami...

I thought I would share this as my Dad has never been a sun baker, but has malignant melanoma.  The Cancer Council is launching the multi-media campaign, which will include TV and print advertisements, today to teach people how to use their local UV Index rating to protect themselves from cancer. Education and research director Terry Slevin said many people were unwittingly putting themselves at risk because of the mistaken belief that UV radiation was dangerous only on really hot days. "There is a sense of complacency, especially on cooler days," Mr Slevin said. "Temperature isn't the best guide (to how dangerous the sun is). "In the past week there have been days when it's been only 25C because a breeze is blowing and a lot of people have been caught out and got sunburnt. "The best way to protect yourself is the UV Index. If it's above three, then it's time to cover up." Silver Sands mother-of-four Kristy Clarke, who los...

  By Vanessa Renderman #stats #iamstillawoman #genetics #awareness Statistics show one in eight U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. That number hits much too close to home for Judy Rathjen. Rathjen, a supervisor in the business office at Methodist Hospitals, had breast cancer. Her mother has ovarian cancer, her paternal grandmother had breast cancer and a sister had uterine cancer. “I didn't know ovarian and breast cancer are linked,” she says. Rathjen, 54, was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer in January 2007. “I had a spot on my mammogram four years prior to that, and it was being watched,” she says. When technology improved, the digital mammography helped doctors determine it was something more serious. "I didn't think it would happen to me, because they were watching it," Rathjen says. Her grandmother was diagnosed before age 40. “From what I've read, [if you're] under 40 or 50, there...