Breast cancer runs rampantly in my fa... - American Cancer S...

American Cancer Survivors

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Breast cancer runs rampantly in my family

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Nearly every woman in my family has had breast cancer and this scares me to death. I'm 25 now and feel like it's on the horizon. But I am aware that as long as I get regular scans it should be okay. Wondering if anyone else has this same fear

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Same here, my mom had breast cancer very young...for this reason my gynecologist told me I should start getting scanned earlier!

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RachelPappas

If there's a lot in your family, especially from a young age, you might want to get tested for BRCA gene mutation. It's not common, even in people with cancer, but a possibility and if you have it there are things you can do to reduce chance for cancer. Health Reform Act will very soon mandate insurance companies to pay for this test; currently your insurance company may pay for it, but if it doesn't call Patient Advocate Foundation or Cancer Legal Resource Center to see if they can advocate for you to get it paid for. Also, Christina Applegate has a fund to help pay for MRIs for people at high risk for breast cancer. And FORCE has lots of info to help people at risk for hereditary breast cancer.

Here are articles on high risk for breast cancer.1uponcancer.com/2011/05/06/... and 1uponcancer.com/2011/05/06/...

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