What's in store for our young daughters?

I worry too. My daughter is only 3. I was diagnosed at 30...so I guess she will have to start mammograms at age 20. I sometimes feel so guilty, that she will have to worry and might be in fear. I hope she doesn't blame me for anything.

My only hope is that there will be some vacine for prevention or even a CURE! My plan is to make sure she can live a healthy active lifestyle to help prevent anything. I have no BC in my family either.

Please do not forget your sons! They will also be affected, their risk will also increase.

Hi Everyone, My daughters and son ages 32,31,29.  I am 4th generation with BC, My mom is now almost a 30 year BC survivor!! She was 57 when dx. my grandmother  died at 53 and my Great grandmother died at 57 of bc. Because of the strong family history I decided to have a Breast MRI done. It took my DR. and myself 3 months of phone calls and letters to Insurance Co., But they finally approved it.  Well. Good thing I did because I had a Mammogram done the same day as the MRI.  My mammo was clean, but the MRI showed 2 areas of IDC.My dh and I flew out to the Mayo Clinic. where I had bilat. mast. with tissue expanders. While there I had genetic testing done, I do not have the BRCA gene, but something is definatly going on that had not been discovered yet.  MY main concern was for my children!  I was told they should start mammos 10 yrs.prior to my DX I was 53 when dx, so that means They don't start till they are 43.  I  told my girls to see their Dr's for mammograms NOW!!!  And an MRI if Ins will pay.  They are as worried as I am .  The only thing we can do as mothers is to keep on top of things and educate our children . MRI's are not recommended unless their are 2 , 1st degree relatives with bc.  If I hadn't been persistant with having an MRI done, I would still be sitting home while cancer was spreading through me.  MY Dr told me it would take years for anything to show up on Mammo.  Gentle hugs to all you wonderful ladies!  Jeanie  

I worry about this all the time. My kids (one boy, one girl) were 5 and 8 when I was diagnosed at age 38. My mom died of bc, my dad died of pancreatic cancer, my grandfather died of bladder cancer, my father-in-law died of prostate cancer, and I have an aunt with colon cancer. Egads.

Although I tested BRCA negative, I wonder about what sort of crappy genetics I have passed on to my kids. And having lost 3 grandparents in 7 years to the disease, plus Mommy has it, my kids are both terrified of getting cancer. I explained to them that kids usually don't get cancer, so now instead  they worry about getting it as adults. And frankly, I'm worried for them.

GregH - I think you are right on track.  However, I started buying organic milk and usually bought organic or non hormone added chicken when my kids were born (11 and 9).  Here I am with BC!

As I have hormone positive breast cancer, I will only buy organic meat and dairy from now on.  I am doing conventional treatment but saw a naturopathic doctor who said organic meat and dairy only.  I also had my vitamin and minerals tested and am low in Vitamin D.

There is no one in my family that has had breast cancer, or cancer in general (we get heart disease). I do think there are some environmental factors and personally Vitamin D plays a role in my case (I live in Seattle).

Good luck - don't know what type of  breast cancer your wife has, but this board is great.

Susan

Hi aprilgirl1,

 We live in Yakima so vitamin D usually isn't a problem!  My wife has early stage IDC, 9mm, stage 1, grade 3 and ER+/PR+, Her2+.  We went to Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for a second opinion and wound up doing what they suggest.  She is taking Taxol and Herceptin for 12 weeks, then radiation and Herceptin every 3 weeks for the rest of the year.  This regimen isn't as aggressive as the Onc in Yakima wanted, but my wife was very afraid of Carboplatin and as such it was the right treatment for her.  Personally I would have preferred TCH, but I'm not the one in the infusion chair, and the SCCA Onc really seemed to know what he was doing.

It seems that the hormones are given to animals to make them grow faster so that they can get them to market quicker and that equals more profit.  The fact that cancer cells are rapidly dividing cells and these animals are given the hormones in order to get their cells to divide more rapidly thus growing more rapidly seems kind of scary to me.  And with the dairy cows being given hormones to induce more milk production and the breast being an organ that's primary purpose is to produce milk, that seems scary to me too.  I also think that maybe it's more important for us to limit these factors for our children because they are growing much more rapidly than we adults are (except for my stomach that is) and so perhaps are more susceptable to having this affect their physiology than adults might be.  I don't really know if any of this makes sense or is true, but I intend to look into it further. 

Thanks for getting back to me and I hope things are going well for you.

Greg

Ellen,

I have to wonder, I am ER/PR - (not hormonal related) so how would milk have any bearing on me?  Not only that but I rarely drink milk and don't eat much dairy (never really have).  I do wonder though, after reading your life in your hands, she makes some valid points about cows milk and dairy.  Asian women have a much lower rate of breast cancer (they don't drink milk and are not dairy eaters), so maybe there is something to be said about it.  I wonder what is it that is affecting Ashanazi's and not Safardic people?  It seems especially so in Colon and stomach cancer's even more.

I live in Israel, I'm not sure about the vitamin D here, but I don't think it would be the source.  Other than my aunt (on my mother's side) no one else in the family ever had breast cancer (and her daughters thank g-d have not had cancer, I am the only one).  We have had a lot of cancer in the family (so many kinds). 

I believe in fate, I think that no matter what I would have done, I probably would have ended up getting bc.  The other day I was having a discussion with a rabbi, he said something that I don't know if I believe, but perhaps it's true.  He believes that we all had past lives (we have been here before) and that when we come back we are supposed to correct the wrongs we did and perhaps also be punished for our sins.  Although I find it hard to believe, maybe it explains why things happen to people when we can't find any other explanation.  When I see babies and young children with cancer, I can't find ANY thing that can explain why it happened to them, what could they have done wrong in this life?  So maybe it really was something from a past life, but it still seems so wrong.

Okay, that's my philosophy lesson 101 :-)

Shelley

Shelley