Sister’s tragedy helped woman take on cancer
She says she hopes the story of her journey can save someone else.
Rachel Noble felt she was likely to get breast cancer, but not right away — not like her sister. Then, at 29, she felt a suspicious lump.
Genetic testing suggested that Rachel Noble had a high probability of developing breast cancer.
But as a young woman with most of her adult life ahead of her, she didn’t live in fear. She got married, had a baby boy, and breast-fed him. Her older sister, who received a fatal breast cancer diagnos isatage 32, was “probably just a fluke,” shethought.
“It was not, ‘I’m going to get cancer right now,’” Rachel said. “It was, ‘I’m going to get cancer, probably, but I have years down the road before I have to get it.’”
Rachel and her sister both tested positive for a BRCA1 gene mutation after their sister’s diagnosis.
After receiving the results of her genetic testing in October 2014, Rachel met with Julie Sawyer, MS, LGC, a certified genetic counselor at the High Risk Breast Cancer Center Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, as well as with Melissa Roelle, MD, a surgeon for high-risk breast cancer and certified physician with MD Anderson Cancer Network at Premier Health.
Sawyer said she counsels patients that the most com mon cause of hereditary breast cancer is an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, with the risk of developing breast cancer with either mutation being about 70 percent or higher.
“In Rachel’s case, her OB/GYN did the test for her, but then they referred her to us to sit down and figure out what the gene mutation means for her, and what do we do about it,” Sawyer said. “We don’t want somebody to do a test, get a result, and walk away feeling helpless. We want them to walk away feeling they have information, and with information they now have power.”
Rachel planned to continue with preventative screenings; however, pregnancy and breastfeeding put that plan on hold. Then, at 29 years old, she felt a lump in her left breast.
“In August 2017, I had just finished breastfeedin g.Mysonwasayear old at that point,” she said. “I had just had mastitis in that left breast as well, so I truly believe that the Lord gave me mastitis. Because of that, I was searching and seeking and kind of rubbing, a ndIfound a lump.”
Rachel immediately called Dr.
Roelle.
“A lot of people think, ‘Let me stop my caffeine and see if it goes away’ – I hear that pretty frequently,” Dr. Roelle said. “Or a younger person might say, ‘I wanted to wait through a couple menstrual cycles and see if things changed.’ I encourage women to know their body, have awareness, and if they feel something, if they feel a lump, to not delay, to get in to see their physician.”
Rachel’s discovery triggered a whirlwind of tests and treatment.
“With Rachel, I remember it vividly,” said Dr. Roell e. “We b oth knew what it was, and we needed to have proof that that’s what it was and start the process of moving forward.”
A biopsy revealed that Rachel had a subtype of breast cancer called triple negative, which is classically very fast growing and has a tendency to spread quickly, explained Mark Marinella, MD, a medical oncologist and certified physician with MD Anderson Cancer Network at Premier Health.
Dr. Marinella treated Rachel at Miami Valley Hospital South – aggressively, and with intent to cure, he said. She went through 18 weeks of chemo, and then had a double mastectomy performed by Dr. Roelle.
“Shehadwhat’scalledacomplete pathologic response, which means when the surgeon goes in there, they don’t see anything, they don’t feel anything, and then when the pathologists look at the tissue under the microscope, they don’t see anything either,” explained Dr. Marinella. “She had the best response she could have with chemotherapy.”
Rachel said her doctors encouraged her to avoid comparing her cancer journey to her sister’s. “They made sure to tell me this was my journey, this wasn’t my sister’s journey, and that her story was very different than mine, ”shesaid.
“Everyone really rallied around Rachel. She faced cancer with a lot of bravery and a lot of grace, and my prayer is that as she goes on, this is just a memory,” said Dr. Roelle. “Her sister had one story, and we tried to write a different story for Rachel.”
Now, Rachel is ready to give back. “I hope a ndpraythatmystory can save somebody’s life, because my sister saved my life,” she said. “Even though she passed, I was educated; I knew what to look for.”
And that education is huge for Rachel.
“I don’t want to cause people fear,” she said. “I just want people to be educated and informed and feel confident and comfortable checking themselves, or asking the right questions, or being involved, or going to the doctor.”
“A lot of people either don’t think it’ll happen to them, or they just are tooscaredtotalkaboutit.”
To learn if you may benefit from genetic testing, take Premier Health’s breast cancer family history assessment at premierhealth.com/BreastCancerAssessment.