In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Lauren Cahn (aka Yoga Chickie) has written an insightful and incredibly informative post about the good, the bad and the ugly of getting tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Lauren makes a great argument for learning your status before a diagnosis of breast cancer (or ovarian cancer,) because when it comes to cancer, early diagnosis often means the difference between life and death; and with test results under your belt you can make a more educated decision about what steps are warranted to prevent this terrible disease. Lauren writes:

So, what does it mean to be BRCA1 or BRCA2 positive? Well, for starters, according to breastcancer.org, women who have an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have up to an 85% risk of developing breast cancer by age 70. Women with BRCA1 and BRCA2 abnormalities are also at increased risk of developing ovarian cancer. The lifetime risk is about 55% for women with BRCA1 mutations and about 25% for women with BRCA2 mutations.

But it gets worse. According to the National Cancer Institute, as well as numerous other sources, women who are “BRCA positive” tend to be diagnosed with breast cancer at an earlier age. Cancerhelp.org.uk reports that HALF of all women who are BRCA positive will have developed breast cancer by the time they are 50 years old. That is WICKED scary.

I couldn’t agree with Lauren more. These may be scary statistics, but just a little bit of knowledge could save your life. I highly recommend you read her entire article at: The gift of the BRCAs.

Technorati Tags: BRCA1, BRCA2, Breast Cancer