Star has mum’s cancer gene
Stan Walker’s mother tells Elton Rikihana Smallman about the disease that has killed dozens of family members.
AWARD-WINNING recording artist Stan Walker and his mum April both have a rare cancercausing gene that is responsible for the death of at least 25 of their family members.
The aggressive CDH1 hereditary gene is found in more than 400 known families worldwide and it’s estimated 25 families in New Zealand have it.
It is estimated that 70 per cent of people with CDH1 will be diagnosed with stomach cancer by age 40 while women have an additional 35 to 40 per cent chance of getting lobular breast cancer.
In May 2016, April Walker, 52, who lives in Melbourne, discovered a lump in her right breast.
‘‘I went to see the doctor and she said it was cancerous and I freaked out. I just went numb like anybody else would.’’
She was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer in September, which led to the cancellation of Walker’s New Zealand tour of which she was the promoter.
Walker said her son struggled to cope with the diagnosis. ‘‘He just couldn’t handle it. It was really devastating, actually, for all of us.’’
Walker chose to forego breast removal surgery but had the 2.5 centimetre mass of cancerous cells removed.
She is at high-risk of developing cancer again, but chooses natural alternatives for treatment – no chemotherapy or radiation.
‘‘The title of my book would be, ‘I should be dead by now’, starting right from domestic violence to finding out about my gene, the food I ate and the breast cancer,’’ she said. ‘‘I feel like I’ve got a second chance.’’
This has prompted her to have her three eldest sons tested.
‘‘I got my three eldest boys, Mike, Russ and Stan, to get tested and Stan was the only one to have the gene,’’ said Walker.
Walker was in her 20s when she found out she had the gene but she never imagined it would develop into cancer.
‘‘It’s not that I didn’t care, I just didn’t really think it would