Breast Cancer Awareness Month for the College Girl
Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October, is full of hope, compassion and love. I’d like to use this opportunity to share some surprising information with the “Asher Roth Generation” of girls (aka college age chicks like myself) who need to know that women from 20 years old should have a mammogram every three years, according to Pink Ribbon International. For young Jewish women of Eastern European decent, genetic testing is especially important for BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. It is found in 1 in 40 Ashkenazi women and is highest in families with a history of multiple cases of breast cancer, according to the NYU Jewish Women’s Breast and Ovarian Cancer Genetics Study.
Approximately, 5-10% of all breast and ovarian cancers are hereditary in nature. However, we currently know only a handful of genes that are responsible for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. For example, some genes that may cause hereditary breast cancer include BRCA1, BRCA2, p53 (also known as protein 53 or tumor protein 53), and PTEN (hosphatase and tensin homolog). It’s estimated that only about 20-30% of hereditary breast cancer is explained by mutations in these genes. Furthermore, it’s understood that not everyone who carries a mutation in a gene that causes breast or ovarian cancer will actually develop cancer.
Any Ashkenazi Jewish woman is eligible for the study if she meets at least one of the following criteria:
Any woman who comes from a "high risk" family includes the following:
- Two or more first or second degree relatives on the same side of the family diagnosed with breast cancer at any age
- Breast cancer diagnosed at any age with at least one first or second degree relative with ovarian cancer* at any age
- Breast cancer diagnosed at any age with at least one first or second degree relative with bilateral breast cancer at any age
- Two or more first or second degree relatives diagnosed with ovarian cancer* at any age
- Both breast and ovarian cancer in one individual
Risk Factors according to NYU Cancer institute are:
- Drinking alcoholic beverages
- A mother or sister with breast cancer
- Early age at menarche
- Taking hormones such as estrogen and progesterone
- Obesity
- Families of Ashkenazi Jewish background
Some of the sources where I learned more about breast cancer are a wonderful book, Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy by Geralyn Lucas, that truly gave a fresh, young face to breast cancer and the website feelyourboobies.com.
We can all make a contribution in our own way. My friend and fellow blogger babe, Angela Milas, founded the Paint The Town Leopard: A Rhode Island Guidette’s Guide to What’s Hot in the Capital and Beyond and wrote a truly cool entry about her mother’s fight with breast cancer. “Know anyone dealing with breast cancer right now? Don't let them give up. If my mom made it through, anyone can, and by supporting these events, you'll providing a shoulder for people in these positions to lean on. So, whether you dye your hair Kelly Osborne style or paint your toes Malibu Barbie style, thinking pink is totally in this month.”
Yours Always,
Foxy, Fun, Fresh, Cinderella and Pink,
Michele Pincczuk
