Mother and daughter highlight importance of genetic testing in diagnosing cancer
ITV Channel reporter Katya Fowler finds out how genetic testing is warning people with breast cancer present in their families early
A mum and daughter in Jersey are highlighting the importance of genetic testing as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Ginny battled breast cancer three times, and after this, she and her daughter Margi were referred for testing to see if they carried the faulty BRCA gene.
After the testing, they found out they both did, and it eventually led to a cancer diagnosis for Margi too.
Everyone has BRCA genes, but for some, theirs are faulty, putting them at a higher risk of getting certain types of cancer.
Cancer Research UK is marking the 30th anniversary of the discovery of this gene by seeking to implement other breakthroughs in research.
Speaking to ITV Channel's Katya Fowler, Margi said: "We just kind of knew about it, it wasn't like we had like a regular conversation about.
"But I was little, but I remember Mum having breast cancer, I remember her being ill, but it was just something we knew was there."
After the test revealed she carried the gene, Margi was offered an annual screening. It was during one of these visits that a lump was found.
Speaking about the experience, she said: "When they removed the lump - the first one - it was only 4mm of cancer. It was tiny, the size of a ball bearing, I'd have never found it, I never felt it, and I don't know when I'd have sort of picked it up by myself."
Once it was removed, she went on to have a baby and it during her first screening, following the birth of her daughter, they found another lump.
"I had a scan, and they couldn't see anything, but I think because I was breastfeeding it was kind of hazy, and then in October last year I found a lump again, went off for a biopsy and that came back as triple-negative breast cancer again, so I had chemo, started that in December, treated May and in June this year I had a double mastectomy."
Experts say BRAC genes are something we all have and are usually a good thing. But for 1 in 400 people, they are faulty.
Dr Hugo De La Pena, a UK Breast Cancer Consultant said: "The BRCA genes, will fix our genes, so they are protective genes, so when you have a BRAC mutation, then that fixing mechanism is lost, so when the cells get damaged, the cells cannot fix themselves and then the cells become unstable and that's how you then develop cancers."
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