Alissa, 15 months, and Nicky Bishop, in Tarrawanna. Picture: Dave Tease
Drastic yes, but for this Wollongong mum with a family tree riddled with cancer, it's a decision that required no to-ing and fro-ing.
Long before the "Angelina effect", Australian women like Mrs Bishop were making informed decisions about their future - weighing up their odds of falling prey to a disease that had already robbed them of loved ones.
"I'm looking at this whole situation I'm in with the attitude that knowledge is power and I'll do whatever it takes, whatever I can to be around as long as I can for my husband and daughter," Mrs Bishop said yesterday.
Her mind was well and truly made up by the time Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie announced to the world last month that she had undergone a double mastectomy.
But she noted that no amount of "BRCA awareness days" could match the effect that Jolie had had for the cause.
She'd had that same test, after a year of contemplation, and discovered she too had the cancer-causing BRCA1 gene.
"Bugger," Mrs Bishop said.
"I've now found out it comes down from my mum's dad's family tree.
"My grandfather's mum died of breast cancer and is one of 13 siblings. About four or five of her siblings died of breast cancer as well."
Mrs Bishop was reluctant to have the test at first - even though her mum, who had been her "everything", had died of breast cancer in 2009. "That's enough cancer in the family for me. I'm more than happy to get them off and take them out.
"At the time of mum's diagnosis in 1997, I was single and living in Adelaide. Mum learnt of a genetic testing option while she was still alive. I never really showed an interest in getting a test, nor did my sister, so I kinda put it in the back of my mind."
Fast forward to life with a loving husband, precious daughter and a burning desire for another child, and Mrs Bishop is on the front foot.
"After my daughter was born, I started to think more and more about my mum, and how I wished she was around to be a nanny to her. I realised that if I was diagnosed with breast cancer around the same time as mum, my daughter would be nine.
"No way was I going to let that happen. I'm not going to sit back and feel sorry for myself that I've been dealt this hand in life. This isn't a 'woe is me' situation. It is a position of power that I have over my future."
Gavin, little Alissa, and Nicky Bishop.
Mrs Bishop's pragmatic approach is about securing her future with her family.
The one thing that irks her is the fact her daughter has a 50 per cent chance of having the genetic anomaly.
"The amazing thing about technology is they have tracked my specific BRCA1 gene to a Polish relative of mine, tracked it for hundreds and hundreds of years and it hasn't skipped a generation. Not one. I find that phenomenal.
"The hardest thing is knowing that I have potentially given it to her. But she will be well positioned to know going in, and she can make informed choices.
"My sister is currently waiting for her test results to come back. If she comes back positive, her daughter may also be affected with the gene."
Mrs Bishop is a member of Pink Hope - Australia's first group designed to inspire women to be proactive and vigilant with their breast and ovarian health, while providing a safe haven for high-risk women to connect.
The registered charity was established and founded by Krystal Barter in 2009, while she was recovering from her preventative double mastectomy.
"Knowledge is power if you know you have the gene," Mrs Bishop said.
"That's what's so great about Pink Hope - they offer so much support with women in the same situation as you, offering support and advice."
Angelina Jolie who stunned the world with her medical decision.
Engadine resident Megan Hambley also finds comfort in sharing her story with friends at Pink Hope.
Her sister, Leanne, died from breast cancer in September 2007, at age 38.
"She fought incredibly hard and unfortunately lost her three-year battle with a disease that to this day I still cannot fathom how it came into our family," Ms Hambley said.
"She left behind two beautiful boys and her husband."
When Ms Hambley's own routine mammogram showed a "cluster of micro calcifications" a couple of years later she went into panic.
"I made an appointment with my GP and was booked in to see a breast surgeon five days later. She said, 'With your family history we'll need to remove these calcifications, more often than not they're nothing to worry about, but we have to be sure'."
Four days later Ms Hambley had the four millimetre micro calcification cluster removed and five days after that she found herself back in the surgeon's office with her parents.
"The results came back as DCIS Ductal Carcinoma In Situ, which basically meant that the cancer hadn't broken out of the cell wall and spread, it was non-invasive, however it was 90 per cent strong female hormone receptive.
"Still I heard the word 'cancer' and straight away thought, 'Oh God, chemo, hair loss, radiation therapy, then death'.
"Since the loss of Leanne, I've had little faith in the survival of breast cancer and to me it meant those exact four things.
"The surgeon advised that chemo wasn't required, but that I'd need to see a radiation oncologist. In that moment I said, 'Just take them off! I want them off'.
"My parents said, 'No, you can't go making rash decisions, we need to be informed of the treatments available first'.
"I'm saying 'Nup, I want them off, they've got to come off'."
Ms Hambley said her decision wasn't a rash one.
"This thought has been floating around inside my head for the last five years."
Her surgeon was "completely supportive either way".
So next thing she knew her diary was booked to see different surgeons, the radiation oncologist, geneticists, GP and a psychologist.
While Ms Hambley and her partner had no immediate plans to start a family, she wasn't about to have that option taken away from her over the next five years.
"Add to that the thought of my parents and siblings going through the challenge of watching another daughter and sister dealing with breast cancer; it was too much for me and them to handle."
Ms Hambley said hindsight was a powerful thing.
"After speaking with the specialists in this field, the success rate of breast cancer survivors proves that my thoughts on survival needn't have been so clouded with those thoughts of Leanne's journey."
But she has no regrets about her skin sparing (nipple removed) bilateral mastectomy and re-constructive surgery.
"I came through alive and well, with two lovely perky implants in place," she said.
"The day I got home from hospital I shed a few tears when my thoughts went to life without my real nipples. The ability to breastfeed is no longer there if the need arises."
But Ms Hambley is at peace.
"Early detection is the key, we hear it so many times, but truly it is the key and I'm living proof."
"So many people have said 'Geez Meegs, you're so brave'.
"I didn't see it as brave, I saw it as necessary and logical and I would do it again in a heartbeat."
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