OUR HAYLEY EXPLAINS
Ma’s grand exit
GREAT-great-grandma of 15 Annie Rideout, believed to have been Britain’s 8th oldest person, has died aged 110 in the New Forest. WHEN I was six or seven I asked my dad Eliot whether breast cancer was genetic, as he had lost his mum to it when he was eight. Unaware there can actually be a family link, he told me No – but that conversation has always stuck in my mind.
Fifteen years later my dad, an only child, got a letter from his cousin Marilyn, then 53. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
She told him she had the BRCA1 gene mutation, and he might have it too. Yes, even men are at risk.
Being the man he is, my dad did not at first want to be tested. Thankfully my mum Helen eventually convinced him, for my sake.
We knew it could be passed down the line – and if it had, that meant my chance of getting breast cancer would shoot up from 12.5 per cent to 60-90 per cent.
As soon as he discovered he also had the BRCA1 mutation, I knew I wanted to be tested.
Counsellor
Not only was that childhood conversation swirling through my head, but my dad and I are pretty much the same person looks and personality- wise, except that I have boobs.
So within a month I had an appointment with his genetic counsellor at Barnet Hospital.
A month later, in March 2015, I sat nervously in hospital with my mum and dad waiting for the results. I remember it like it was yesterday.
When the counsellor came out to personally escort us into her office, I knew it was bad news.
As soon as we sat down she broke the news, getting it out of the way like ripping off a plaster.
I stayed strong, not crying, taking in the words, “You’re 80 per cent Everything around me screamed more likely to get breast cancer.” that I needed it before I was 28. Just
But then I turned to my dad – and a month later I watched the TV he was crying. “It’s my fault,” he drama The C C-Word, Word, about jour journalist choked. Seeing my dad cry was what and blogger Lisa Lynch. did for me. She died at 33, having b been
I asked him to leave the room. diagnosed with breast cancer five Knowing how much he was years earlier. blaming himself, I didn’t feel After 15 minutes minut I I could speak in front of him. switched it off, sobBut I decided right then I’d bing my hear heart out. get a mastectomy. When I g goog
I originally thought I’d led Lisa, wh who edwait until my thirties. My ited inter interiors mum and the counsellor admagazine magazines, I vised me to wait until I’d saw j ust how started a family because similar we were. w “wouldn’t I want to From her breastfeed?” I’d always blog blog, she seel had big boobs and while, seemed
like yes, they are a sign of my femininity and I’ve always loved them, they are just boobs. And getting rid of them will save my life. I I’d d rather live to a ripe old age and not be able to breastfeed than leave my future kids with
n no o mu mum. m .