|
|
 |
 |
|
Cancer & Genetics
HOST ON CAMERA
You might think your safe if it doesn't run in your family, but you'd be wrong. 90% of cancer patients have no significant family history of cancer at all. For the 10% of women who have a genetic predisposition to cancer it can reveal itself in ages as young as 20. The young woman you are about to meet had her cancer diagnosis at age 16. A very rare case, even among women whose genes make them susceptible for this dreaded disease.
HOST V/O
Terri Jefferson is an eighteen-year-old senior, at Law, Government & Community Service magnet high school in Queens, New York. Like most girls her age, she's looking forward to graduation... and her senior prom.
But Terri has had more than the usual milestones to mark her passage into young adulthood. That's because she's had to overcome a life-threatening obstacle... one that her mother, Darlene, remembers learning about vividly.
Darlene Ellison-Jefferson
"About 11 o'clock in the morning I get a phone call from the doctor he says Ms. Jefferson I need for you to come in to talk about Terri's tests..."
HOST V/O
Imagine being told your daughter has stage three ovarian cancer... a diagnosis quite rare, because ovarian cancer is usually associated with older women... not teenagers.
NAT SOUND
How are you?
HOST V/O
Dr. Eva Chalas, is a gynecologist who practices at two medical centers on Long Island, New York.
Eva Chalas, MD
"Ovarian cancer rarely occurs before mid 30's typically the incidents...or the number of patients who are diagnosed increases from mid 30's on and begins to level off, only after the woman has reached the age of 85."
HOST V/O
Darlene would have to break the devastating news to her only daughter.
Darlene Ellison-Jefferson
Mother
"I said Terri, It says that you have cancer, she looks at me and she goes, I have cancer what are you talking about?"
Terri Jefferson
"It was basically a normal day until she told me and then, you know I had to deal with it."
HOST V/O
Terri first went to the doctor because she was experiencing bloating and unusual fluid in her abdomen. She had no idea these symptoms pointed to the existence of cancer. Overnight, her life changed dramatically. Before, it was homework and hanging out with friends... now, it was doctor's appointments, and medical tests.
Dr. Chalas had to prepare Terri for the profound impact her disease and it's treatment would have on her future.
Eva Chalas, MD
"That surgery was likely to result in having to remove her tubes and ovaries, having to go through premature menopause, and then also not being able to ever have any children, so as you can imagine that was a very lengthy visit and a very trying one for everyone."
HOST V/O
Terri had an emergency hysterectomy. Doctors had to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes in order to extract the cancer. Her recovery from surgery was tough... and complicated by her bout with premature menopause.
Terri Jefferson - 18
"If your body says that your're going to go through, your going to go through it no matter what you take."
HOST V/O
She missed the second half of eleventh grade, but fought to kept up on her homework with tutors. In September she returned to school, just in time for her senior year.
Terri Jefferson
"I was kind of happy just to be able to get out of my house and start trying to live a normal life even though my life will never be normal again."
HOST V/O
Terri is grateful to the doctors for saving her life, but she can't help but reflect on what the cancer has robbed her of.
Terri Jefferson
"Yeah I am happy that I am alive but there are so many things that I could have been happy about but because of the fact that I have cancer it took that choice away. I'm trying to deal with that."
HOST V/O
But Terri's struggle is not over. Because she developed cancer at such a young age, chances are she has a genetic mutation that puts her at high risk for other types of cancer.
Eva Chalas, MD
"Women with ovarian cancer and women with breast cancer are both at an increased risk for the other type of cancer."
HOST V/O
Only a small percentage of cancers are hereditary, caused by an inherited genetic mutation. Two genes that are identified in most hereditary breast and ovarian cancers are known as BRCA1 and BRCA2. Both genes are instrumental in regulating cell growth and when one or both becomes abnormal, cells may grow into cancer.
Eva Chalas, MD
"If a woman is thought to have more than a 10% risk of having a genetic mutation it is considered medically appropriate for her to be tested."
HOST V/O
Terri's mother suspected her daughter did inherit a gene mutation from her "cancer family tree". She had two aunts with breast cancer and a grandmother with ovarian cancer. So, when Terri was genetically tested, the result was no surprise.
Terri Jefferson
"She just told me that I did have the gene and it didn't really affect me, because, honestly to tell you the truth, I already knew that I did have it. There's no way you can get ovarian cancer at 16 and not have some sort of trait in your family that will give you cancer."
HOST V/O
Doctors say Terri will have to be carefully monitored for breast cancer or other cancers all her life. But she seems incapable of feeling sorry for herself.
Terri Jefferson
"I mean everybody has to keep the eye out for something, but I have to have both eyes wide open being aware of every little thing."
HOST V/O
In the mean time, Terri is getting on with her life.
Terri Jefferson
"I'm just glad to be here and go to my senior prom and graduate and go on to college and do everything else I want in life. There was a point in time in my life that nobody was sure whether I would be able to do all those things.....its like okay, well, I can do all that stuff but I also had to overcome a lot of things to get to this point."
HOST ON CAMERA TAG
The risk for breast and ovarian cancers increases as a woman ages and remember, most women who are diagnosed with these cancers do not have a genetic history of these diseases. That's why doctors say it's important for all women to get an annual physician exam, mammograms beginning in their 40s, and always report any unusual symptoms to their physicians.
HOST V/O
A women's risk for breast cancer increases as she ages.
By age 35 a women has a 1 in 622 chance of developing breast cancer.
By age 65 it's 1 in 17.
HOST ON CAMERA
Well, that's all for this edition of The Art of Women's Health. Join us next time for more compelling stories about the vital health issues facing women today. Until then, I'm Juju Chang.
HOST V/O
She had just beaten one kind of cancer.
Patient
"He said, congratulations Evelyn, this is wonderful news, you don't need to worry. And I said, oh, I'm so relieved, but I found this lump and it doesn't feel right to me.
NARRATOR V/O
The Art of Women's Health was brought to you by:
Every day more than half a million people look to Quest Diagnostics to tell their doctors whether they are healthy or ill. We take this responsibility very seriously. Quest Diagnostics, we strive to make finding answers easier every day.
This series is also supported by a grant from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
|
|
|
