In Australia right now there are 660,000 women who are at moderate to high risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer – and it’s estimated almost two thirds of them don’t know it.
Up to 60,000 of these women carry a BRCA1 – of Angelina Jolie fame – or BRCA2 gene fault known to increase their lifetime risk of cancer.
“Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness,” Angelina wrote in The New York Times following her preventative double mastectomy. “But today it is possible to find out … whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.”
The Australian Women’s Weekly and Pink Hope charity have teamed up to find women who are a high risk. Because there are preventative measures we can take, but only if we know.
Women with BRCA1 mutations have on average a 72 per cent risk of developing breast cancer by 80 years of age. For BRCA2 mutation carriers, the risk of breast cancer is 69 per cent. The average lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is 44 per cent for BRCA1 and 17 per cent for BRCA2. Other women have an increased risk due to their family history of cancer and or lifestyle factors.
“Screening is a very important issue, particularly for mutation carriers,” says co-lead author Professor John Hopper, from the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health.
“We know having your breasts removed lowers your risk of breast cancer and having your ovaries removed lowers your risk of ovarian cancer, but no one is laying down rules for what women should or should not do. It’s a personal issue if and when to have preventative surgery,” he adds.
Rachael Finch
In the September issue, out Thursday, The Australian Women’s Weekly meet a group of inspiring women with the BRCA gene and unveil an initiative to help women discover their risk. Supported by Today Show co-host Sylvia Jeffreys, model and mother Rachael Finch, Now To Love’s Reinvention editor-at-large Deborah Hutton and medical practitioner Professor Kerryn Phelps, The Weekly is encouraging women to take a questionnaire to discover their risk.
Please visit the official Know Your Risk website to answer the simple questionnaire to help you assess your personal risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.
You can watch founder of Pink Hope, Krystal Barter, chat with Angelina Jolie’s surgeon, Dr Kristi Funk below:
