The Tribune

“KNOW your BRCA status” is one of the key messages that the Sister, Sister breast cancer survivors support group left Bahamians with at the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Group president Andrea Sweeting is once again emphasising the importance of BRCA testing and said that it would begin again this month.

Mrs Sweeting is urging women – and men – to know their BRCA status; to know whether you have the breast cancer BRCA gene mutation that increases the risk for cancer.

Tests since 2008 reveal that an alarming amount of women in the Bahamas have this mutation on this gene, putting them in a category for increased risk for the disease.

Free BRCA testing in the Bahamas has been offered by the Breast Cancer Initiative Foundation for the past six years. It was initiated by Stephanie Siegel, the wife of former US Ambassador to the Bahamas Ned Siegel.

Mrs Siegel, a breast cancer survivor, was diagnosed while in Nassau.

The Breast Cancer Initiative Foundation is still operational despite the completion of the first grant.

Mrs Sweeting announced on a radio talk show recently that a new genetic counsellor will resume testing for BRCA this month at the Cancer Society of the Bahamas.

“So for persons who are interested and you know you fall into that strong family history, we are asking you to come and be tested. If you don’t know and you’d like to know, then they are asking you to come and be tested as well, as they are doing a correlation between women with and without cancer. It was offered free of charge before, but unfortunately there will now be a cost of $200 because we have to pay for the kit. It will be done by spittle and marked and sent off to Canada for the testing,” Mrs Sweeting said.

While the good news is that the testing for the gene has been made accessible and much more affordable – testing for the gene normally costs approximately $4,000 – Mrs Sweeting said women who are found to have the BRCA gene are still being asked to make some tough choices.

“The only sad thing about the concept is that young women who are actually found to be have the BRCA gene are considering prophylactic surgery in which they take out both of your ovaries and a bilateral mastectomy where they take both breasts off. We discuss with them the choices; we let them know what the options are and the choice is theirs. But if you have a bilateral mastectomy, you can have reconstruction and you can look just as good as anyone,” she said.

Mrs Sweeting has been a survivor for more than 12 years now. She had a mastectomy in January 2002 but opted not to have the reconstruction and has been cancer free since then. The Sister, Sister president revealed that it was devastating to learn that she had breast cancer and that is why the group was formed, to support breast cancer patients and help them to become survivors.

“We come to you. We encourage you to cry.

“To scream and shout and get it out and get on with it, to get on with life. We are there to hold your hand and walk with you…when you are at your lowest point during chemotherapy or radiation. It is comforting that you can assist women and it is very sad when you lose a friend because that’s how we look at these women, as our sisters and friends. We want to help them move forward after they are diagnosed.

“Our support group can help to ease their fears and meet much of their needs. We encourage them not to stay in the dark, but to talk about it, to come out to meetings and see the other women who are living through the same thing, It is scary, but your attitude is very important and can determine your altitude, if you trust in the Lord,” she said.Sister, Sister founder and surgeon Dr Charles Diggiss revealed that previously 47 per cent of Bahamian women with breast cancer who tested in the initial series had the gene.

He admitted that although it was an alarming statistic, we should regard it as a need for surveillance of both breast and ovarian cancer to be increased. He added that breast cancer in men recently has seemed “significant”, although extremely unusual and only found to be one per cent of all breast cancers. He also reminded Bahamians that having BRCA 1 or 2 gene, does not mean that you will automatically develop breast cancer, as the majority of women with breast cancer do not have the mutation. However, he stated, that it means you are at risk and surveillance is important. Additionally, he issued a warning to men: “So, if you are in a family where your siblings are being monitored with BRCA 1 and 2 gene then don’t dispel it as ‘a women’s problem’, because it means you should also get involved and get tested or checked. If you are positive for BRCA then your risk for breast cancer has likewise increased.”

Mrs Sweeting encouraged women to perform their breast self-examinations two weeks before and after menstruation, and to check under their arm pits because involved lymph nodes may be felt there as well.