Hello everyone. I am new here. I feel a bit of a fraud as it is my identical twin sister who has been diagnosed with the breast cancer. She is having a mastectomy on May 11th. I paid privately to have a mammogram and the consultant told me I have Benign breast changes which my sister had 2 years before she was diagnosed. He also told me to tell her that if my sister was offered genetic testing she should take it up. I do not know if she will take up the offer of testing. She might have to pay for it. She lives in Australia. I cannot tell you how awful I feel and I have felt like it should be me instead of her who has the cancer. Are there any twins out there who could help me?
Hi Jillyo60, not a twin story but a sister story. We have lived with BRCA1 in our family for a very long time. My sister tested positive, but decided to have a hysterectomy and to have yearly breast screening, rather than going down the mastectomy route. She was fine for many years until She found a lump about 18 months ago, and they did a double mastectomy and implants. She had chemotherapy and is now very well. The shock was that although she is BRCA1 positive, the cancer had no hormone markers, so it is nothing to do with the gene at all.
I tested negative to the BRCA1 gene, but I have endometrial stromal sarcoma, which is now in my lungs and is incurable but treatable. I can fully understand how you may feel that you think it should be you and not her. That is a natural feeling coming from the love of your sister. But there is nothing anyone can do to change the odds, it is the roll of the dice, or the cards that we are dealt.
I wish your sister all the very best for her treatment. It must be hard for you when she is so far away.
Take care x
