Because We Knew, They Lived: Help End Hereditary Cancer

Finding out that many of the women in our family had an 85% lifetime risk for breast cancer was a terrible bomb blowing up our lives--but we are so grateful we found out. Because we knew, the lives of my daughter, her two children, and two of her cousins were saved. Because we knew about their increased risk for pancreatic cancer, the lives of my husband, two cousins, and our son were spared. That's just for starters, because our familial risk for cancer will always be with us, and only by making sure everyone related to us knows about their risk can we give them the opportunity to make informed, proactive decisions about monitoring, prophylactic surgeries, and targeted treatments. ConnectMyVariant helped us find and talk with family members about our BRCA1 variant, a work that is ongoing. Through genealogy work and connections with others with the same genetic variant, ConnectMyVariant is bringing more and more people together to end hereditary disease and save lives.