SHARE Self-Help

I am writing as member of the general public although I hold an MPH in biochemistry and am also a lawyer. In 2006 at the age of 86, my father, an avid athlete, tennis player and pitcher, was suprisingly diagnosed with breast cancer while undergoing surgery for congestive heart failure. My father's diagnosis put me on immediate notice that I should undergo BRCA testing. No woman on either side of my family ever had breast cancer. However, at age 10, I already had dense fibrocystic disease, making detection of lumps virtually impossible as I aged and matured. I also lost 4 pregnancies between ages 28-45 in part from a combination of cystic Ovarian disease and fibroids that culminted with removal of my right ovary and supracervical hysterectomy in 2001. I decided to keep my left ovary at that time because I did not know I had BRCA 2 disease, estrogen protects the hears and most important because I have migraines since age 9 and could never tolerate any type of estrogen therapy. In February, 2007, just months after my father's diagnosis, my annual routine mammogram finally showed a tiny cluster of calcifications, not yet lumps. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT ANNUAL MAMMOGRAM SCREENING IS SUPPOSED TO DO AND I AM EXACTLY WITHIN THE CLASS OF WOMEN ANNUAL MAMMOGRAMS WERE DESIGNED TO PROTECT. Biopsy of the calcification was positive for DCIS aggressive pathology (cribriform and solid malignancy), which led in turn to my positive BRCA 2 diagnosis. I inherited this disease from my father and had I had screening earlier, I would have removed my left ovary in 2001. In 2007, I immediately underwent lumpectomy of the rigt breast. But within months, digital MRI of the left breast showed addiitonal suspicious changes, not yet calcificaions. In consult with my oncologist, Anne L. Moore, MD of Weill Cornell (who I met at a SHARE lecture), I dcided to undergo radical double mastectomy and lumpectomy of my remaining left ovary - difficult operations for me as I am asthmatic. These two operations saved my life. I needed no chemotherapy at all. In fact, within two months, I was back to swimming 3 miles week, playing tennis, and but for the disfiguration of my athetic, (previously) buxom and statuesque body, I am healthier now than ever. Had I not been asthmatic, I could have had reconstrution at the same time, but intend to have this operation within the next year. I found my oncologist, Anne L. Moore, MD, through SHARE. I attended wonderful lectures on treatment and medical advances at SHARE. I am indebted for SHARE's commitment to cancer awareness for all women including through volunteer networking. SHARE helps many women with more advanced cancers through their seminars, consults and resource network. Coincidentally, I ran into Dr. Moore at Cranwell Resort in the Berkshires in August, 2008 when I preparing for my double mastectomy with an avid swimming regiment. Having asthma means I needed to have my lungs cleanand excellet condition. Dr. Moore saw me coming out of the pool and was surprised to see me. She asked: "Amy.. getting ready for your surgery, I see?" That was the only further hint I needed. I knew then that I could not longer procrastinate and must have the operations right away. It was time. I was lucky to catch my disease at Stage 0, I was as lucky to be ntroduced to SHARE and its community. Within days of my diagnosis, I receivied the contacts and research information I needed to make informed and correct choices, stay calm and receive referrals to the finest doctors in the world. In many respects I am now healthier than I have been in twenty years.