For the last decade, many women with a family history of
breast and/or ovarian cancer have decided to get tested for mutations in two
“breast cancer genes” (BRCA1 and BRCA2). Although this technology allows women to
make much more informed choices about preventive care, it also presents some
impossibly hard choices for those who test positive: either live with the
knowledge that one’s risk of developing cancer is up to 90 percent in the
breasts and up to 60 percent in the ovaries, or decide to have one’s breasts
and ovaries removed.
A recently published memoir, Pretty is What Changes, traces one woman’s struggle with these questions.
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