TAMPA, Fla. — Cancer — just hearing the word can be scary. But what if you could get a heads up that cancer could be in your future, would you want to know? Genetic testing is giving doctors and patients a way to take more control over their future health.
Stef Alastre is a licensed, certified genetics counselor. She explains why genetic testing is so important.
"The number one goal of genetic testing is to help us prevent a cancer if we can," Alastre said. "That's obviously what we would want to do, but in the event that we can't prevent it, we would then want to find it very early when the treatment is most successful."
At Moffitt Cancer Center, genetic testing is regularly used, not only to help predict your risk but to help target treatment of current patients. Alastre says they are just scratching the surface.
"I think that we're on the verge of so many discoveries and I think it's just exponential with the amount of information we're learning with genetics and how we can utilize that to best provide services to our patients," she said.
Miriam Zimms knows her risk all too well, having her first genetic test back in 2010 after being diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer at just 43.
"The results were that I had a BRCA-1 variant," Zimms said.
And that was just the beginning of her journey.
"I was a previvor for ovarian cancer by being proactive and having my ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, then I got an unrelated primary bone cancer called chondrosarcoma. So all that happened in a three-year time period," she said.
For Zimms, the chondrosarcoma could not be treated with chemo or radiation. Surgery was the only option.
"So it happened to be in my left pelvis. So they removed the majority of my left pelvis. They removed my hip ball and femur," Zimms said.
That led to a second, more expansive round of genetic testing in 2013. Zimms shares her story because she knows some people are skeptical of genetic testing, and for some, the results can be frightening. But to her, information is power.
"For me, it was my decision to move forward and try to put my puzzle together and help myself, my family and others," she said.
But it is a personal decision, and one that should be guided by a genetics counselor, like Alastre.
"Then when the results come back, if they come back positive, part of my job is to say here are some of the recommendations as to what we do next in regard to this specific genetic mutation. Like what is the way that we should follow you going forward," Alastre said.
Zimms is now cancer free, but because she knows her risk, she gets regular screenings for several different types of cancers.
"That is how I live. I would like life over cancer," she said. "That's how I want to live my life and that information gives me hope, [and] continues to give me courage."
As the research continues, doctors are able to test for more genetic mutations that can show a pre-disposition for many different types of cancers.
So, who should be tested? Family history is the key. If multiple people in your family have had the same type of cancer, especially if they had it at a young age you might consider testing, but it's best to talk with your doctor and a genetics counselor before undergoing testing to truly understand your risk.