Medi-File Matching Mastectomies

Julie was grateful not to undertake her scary journey alone

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My older sister Michelle and I were best friends.

In 2014, we were devastated when our dad Geoff, then 60, was diagnosed with prostate cancer – the fourth person in our family to have cancer.

Dad’s mum and his sister had died from breast cancer, and his other sister had fought it too.

Worried, Michelle, then 29, and I got tested for the breast cancer gene, BRCA1. To our shock, we both tested positive.

We had an 80 per cent chance of getting breast cancer, and 40 per cent of getting ovarian cancer.

‘It’s not a case of if but when,’ the doctor said.

We began getting regular screenings together.

Will it be today? I’d think, checking my boobs daily.

Two years later, I had a scare, but it was a false alarm.