does cancer run in your family ?

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fatimaR
fatimaR Member Posts: 16
edited June 2014 in Bone Health and Bone Loss

Hi everyone,

Lately i have been noticing that cancer is becoming extremely more and more common, not just breast cancer but all types of cancer. I was wondering how many of you ladies have cancer in your family of any type. Mine is as follows:

Maternal Grandmother- Ovarian cancer at 51

Maternal Aunt- uterine leiomyosarcoma at 40

Maternal second cousin- breast cancer at 44

Mom's maternal uncle- prostate cancer at 78

mom had genetic testing for BRCA and was negative.

anyone else ?

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  • fredntan
    fredntan Member Posts: 1,821
    edited November 2013

    nope I am first. was planning of dying of heart attack like all my other family members

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  • edwards750
    edwards750 Member Posts: 3,761
    edited November 2013


    Boy I do...


    Mom - BC at age 68(died at 83 but not from BC)


    Dad - lymphoma at 75


    Brother - melanoma at 40(doing fine 17 years later)


    sister - BC at 64(just dx 2 years ago - so far, so good)MX, Arimidex


    aunt - BC - not sure how old she was


    grandfather - pancreatic cancer at 75


    Me - bc at 60 - 3 years ago - so far, so good - Stage 2, Grade l - lumpectomy, 33 RADS, Tamoxifen


    Thing is I keep reading that the vast majority of at least BC cases are ones with no family history. Go figure.


    diane

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  • fatimaR
    fatimaR Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2013

    i know statistics just dont make sense ! your grandfather and aunt are from your maternal or paternal side of the family ?

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  • Momine
    Momine Member Posts: 7,859
    edited November 2013


    Fatima, it is not really that cancer is becoming more prevalent. It is more that people are dying less and less of other causes.


    That said, I have an extensive family history:


    Dad: prostate, skin, pre-cancer in kidney (lost the whole kidney).


    Dad's brother: testicle, skin, bladder, pre-cancer in bowel.


    Dad's sister: melanoma in eye (it killed her after 20 years).


    Dad's mother: bladder.


    Dad's father: bowel.


    Dad's aunt: breast.


    Dad's uncle: lung at a young age and it killed him.


    Mother: ovary.


    Mother's sister: breast, lung and endometrium (3 separate primaries).

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  • exbrnxgrl
    exbrnxgrl Member Posts: 12,424
    edited November 2013


    Fatima,


    I agree with momine. Fewer people are dying of other causes and our detection methods have gotten better over the years for many types of cancer. As to the fact that the vast majority of breast cancers are not genetic, yes that is true for the gene mutations that are known. There may be other gene mutations out there, waiting to be discovered, or there might not be.

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  • fatimaR
    fatimaR Member Posts: 16
    edited November 2013

    Thank you for sharing momine, i think you make a valid point. I also believe its our lifestyle, enviroment and pollution around us that is causing more and more cancer cases. I was wondering, your family members were diagnosed at young ages with cancer ?

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  • dlb823
    dlb823 Member Posts: 9,430
    edited November 2013


    I lost my Dad to late stage colon cancer when he was in his mid-70's.


    My sister is a 2x bc survivor. (2nd dx opposite side 8 years after first.)


    Two of many cousins (Dad's side) dx'd w/bc pre-40. (One recently dx'd w/mets, but she's doing well.)


    Some of Dad's siblings had gastro cancers, although I don't know any details.


    My brother had an early stage melanoma.


    So, yes, absolutely a genetic predisposition on Dad's side. My sister and 2 cousins all tested negative for BRCA, but one of the cousins had a gene variant of unknown significance. (UCLA did not feel I needed to be tested since they were all negative and I was older than they were at dx.)


    I personally believe for most people it's an accumulation or compilation of things, and that those can be different for each of us. Would I have developed bc if I hadn't also taken HRT? Maybe; maybe not. But I definitely think the HRT played a significant role. And I can point to things in each of my relatives that are/were clearly lifestyle risk factors. I also believe that the amount of chemicals in our environment -- from gasoline emissions to things like non-stick cookware and plastics -- probably all play a part, at least for some of us.


    Just my thoughts on it... Deanna

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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited November 2013


    My paternal aunt has been the family geneologist for years. When I was doing the genetic testing after my ALH/ADH biopsy she told me of the "Kellogg Cancer Curse". My 4 times great-grandfather was the brother of WK Kellogg the cereal guy. Anyway at that generation 50 percent of the family male and female had BC. It seemed to trickle down the gene pool, but never to that extent. I always thought dad's side of the family was the safe side! Here's my first and second degree relative cancer history.

    Sister - Wilms tumor (kidney) age 3 - passed age 4

    Mother - BC age 27, passed 29

    Maternal aunt  -  BC age 44 - passed 45

    Me - 51

    Father - 73 - prostate

    Paternal cousin male - prostate 40's

    Paternal Grfather - lung - 62

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  • msphil
    msphil Member Posts: 1,536
    edited December 2013

    yes,paternal grandmom-colon,paternal grandpop and Aunt stomach.i,m first with breast. msphil(idc,stage2, 0/3 nodes, L mast, chemo and rads and 5 yrs on tamoxifen)

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