Family member as only one with breast cancer

Me too.  I was 62 when diagnosed - mammos every year since 40, not even 1 call back.  No one on either side of my large family has been diagnosed with any sort of cancer at all.  Go figure - triple neg to boot.

Hi, my mom went through early menopause at age 40 and came down with breast cancer in her left breast at age 42 (this was almost 30 years ago - she had a mastectomy on the one breast with no reconstruction and Thank God, she's fine today).  My sister, who is younger than me, had early menopause (around age 35) and then developed breast cancer in her left breast at age 42.  She had a lumpectomy and radiation.  She is now 46 years old and fine.  I am going to be 50 soon and I have not gone through menopause, but I had very early breast cancer in my left breast and decided to have a double mastectomy this past spring.  I decided to have both breasts removed because I didn't want to worry about going through a mastectomy twice.  When they did the testing on the "healthy' breast, they also found the beginnings of early breast cancer in that one too.  None of that showed up in all of the tests that they did on me.  So I was very relieved that I had both breasts removed.  My sister tested positive for the BRCA gene.  My mother and I were both tested and we tested negative from the BRCA gene.  So my sister inherited it from our father's side of the family.  So, no one on my mom's side of the family had any cancer before my mom got it.  My dad's aunts all had breast cancer, so that explains where my sister got it.  But the point is that even though my mom was the first one to get the breast cancer on her side of the family and she didn't have the BRCA gene, she still got it and so did I.  It just strengthens my belief that all women should get mammograms to be safe.  My surgeon told me that if I had waited six more months, my cancer would have spread and I would have needed chemo and radiation.  I feel very fortunate that it was discovered very early and that I made the decision to get the double mastectomies.  I now have saline implants and I don't worry too much about having breast cancer ever again since the surgeon said my chances of it every coming back would be extremely small.  I hope this helps.  Please just get your mammograms every year and God forbid, if they find something, be aggressive in taking action to get rid of it as soon as possible.  Good luck and God Bless you. 

You are asking questions for which there are no clear answers. 

With the possible exception of women who get BC as a result of the BRCA genetic mutation (or another known mutation that increases BC risk) whether or not one is going to develop breast cancer is a virtually impossible question to answer.  This is true whether you have a strong family history (many family members), a weak family history (only one family member), or no family history. 

There are dozens and dozens of causes of breast cancer - probably hundreds - and most likely it is a combination of different factors that lead to the development of breast cancer in each of us.

• Some risk factors have a strong direct genetic link.  If one of your parents (either your mother or your father) carries the BRCA genetic mutation and if you inherited it (there would be a 50/50 chance of that), then you are at very high risk to get breast cancer.  But even if your grandmother had the mutation, your mother inherited it and then you inherited it, it doesn't mean that all 3 of you will get breast cancer.  While a high percentage of women with the mutation do get breast cancer, some women don't. So you might carry the gene from your mother but your mother may never have had BC.  Or you might carry the gene from your father.  In addition to the BRCA genetic mutation, there are a few other genetic mutations that also increase breast cancer risk, and there are likely to be more discovered in the future.  But overall these represent a relatively small percent of women who get breast cancer.
• Other risk factors have an indirect genetic link.  In my case, my mother has extremely dense breast tissue.  I have extremely dense breast tissue.  Just guessing, but in all likelihood I inherited this condition from my mother.  Women who have extremely dense breast tissue are at higher risk to get breast cancer.  My mother got breast cancer when she was 80; I got breast cancer when I was 49.  Is there a genetic link there?  Quite possibly but at this point, it's probably impossible to know for sure.  It's also not known what percent of women with breast cancer fall into this category, where there may be some inherited feature/condition that leads to the development of breast cancer.
• Another group of risk factors may have a familial, but not genetic, link.  Based on where you lived and your lifestyle, you and your mother (and other family members) may have been exposed to the some of the same environmental/lifestyle factors that increase the risk of getting breast cancer.  So several members of a family might all get breast cancer and yet there is no actual genetic link.
• Lastly, there are all the personal, lifestyle and environmental factors that have no genetic or familial link.  Your exposure to estrogen (at what age your periods started and stopped, how many children you had, whether you took birth control pills and/or HRT, etc.), your diet, the environmental toxins you are exposed to daily, etc... all present risks that may or may not lead to the development of breast cancer in any one individual. 

Looking at all women, it's certainly true that on average, women with first degree relatives who've had BC do have a higher risk that they'll get BC too.  However for any one individual there might not actually be any increase in risk at all.  Unless the specific cause of your mother's (or sister's) cancer is known (eg. the BRCA mutation), there is no way to know if you will be affected by the same thing. So it's assumed that you carry a risk, although in fact you might not.  But to be on the safe side, anyone with a first degree relative who's had BC is considered to be at higher risk, and should be watched more closely.

What it comes down to is that 1 in 12 women in North America will get breast cancer during her lifetime.  Some will have mothers or grandmothers or sisters who've also had breast cancer, and the connection might be genetic, it might be familial, or each case might be completely random and unconnected. Others who get BC will have no family history at all, and while most of these cases will be random, in some cases there might be a genetic or familial link even though no other family members ever got the disease.  While there are genetic and familial links and connections, and while there are known environmental factors that increase risk, for each of us individuals, as Coolbreeze said, it's a crapshoot.

I am 44 years old and the only one in a very large family that has had breast cancer. Just special I guess!

hi, i was34 when i had breast cancer, i had a mastectomy, followed by chemo & eventually 18 months later had reconstruction.  There is no family history of breast cancer, i have a 19 year old daughter, a younger sister & over 12 female cousins, who have to date had no problems, i on the other hand have just been recalled for a 2nd mammogram this year, now i am 41 and last year had my 5 year clear, so i was a bit taken aback when i was then told that they have found a lump in my right  breast, i have just had an ultra scan & 3 biospsies, & waiting for the results, which to say the very least i am not that confident about receiving.  Waiting in antisipation!!!!!

Deb- Welcome to a forum no one wants to be part of but glad you found us- sorry if you have to go thru this again, but hoping for b9 results for you- were here if you need us (((((hugs)))))

Bessie- Great posts as always!

Thanks guys to your posts, I had a lot of additional informations about breast cancer. Now I will not think that it's purely inherited. I'm now aware of the importance of finding breast cancer early. It's risk factors and the signs and symptoms. And the benefits and limitations of breast self-exam (BSE). Thanks again. And thanks for those who are inviting us in some events that supports breast cancer patients, like the Breast Cancer Awareness Month.