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When Heather Mann learned she had breast cancer, it was a complete surprise. “I had never thought that I was at high risk for breast cancer,” the 49-year-old says. “I don’t have any family lineage or history of breast cancer. My grandmother on my father’s side had breast cancer, but apparently that’s not usually a significant factor. So I was very surprised when I found out that I had a malignant tumor.”
Shelia Bauer ‘s breast cancer journey took a very different route. After her twin sisters died of the disease in their 50s, Bauer, now 73, assumed that she likely carried some genetic risk factors. For three decades, she got both a mammogram and an MRI every year to make sure no aberrant cells were seeding tumors in her breast tissue. And every year, she waited anxiously for the results; based on her sisters’ history, she simply assumed that she was at higher risk of developing the disease.
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In her case, however, she was wrong.
Both Mann, who lives in San Francisco, and Bauer, who is from Cape Cod, are part of the WISDOM study, Women Informed to Screen Depending On Measures of risk, led by Dr. Laura Esserman, director of the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at University of California, San Francisco. And because of the comprehensive evaluation of their risk factors for breast cancer, which includes genetic testing as well as their family history and lifestyle habits such as their diet and exercise regimens, that they received as part of the trial, they each learned that they needed to make changes to the way they were managing their risk for the disease. (Marc and Lynne Benioff, the co-chairs and owners of TIME, have been philanthropic supporters of Dr. Esserman’s breast cancer research. The WISDOM study receives software support from Salesforce, where Marc Benioff is chairman and CEO.)
Both women were already following existing advice to screen for breast cancer, adhering to the guidelines that vary a bit but basically…
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Source : time
