- nicki.m4a
Transcript
So hi, I'm Nicky, um, and I'm going to just talk a little bit about my history. So I am a BRCA1 gene, um, gene carrier. So that means I have a gene mutation that uh makes it highly likely that I'm going to have, um, breast cancer or ovarian cancer because it's a, it's a faulty gene. Um.
It doesn't actually mean that anymore because I've had to make some life changing decisions. Um, just to give you a bit of background, my, um, family, the females in particular down my mother's line, um, they've all died, um, from either breast cancer or ovarian, with breast cancer being the main, the main one. So we're talking aunties, grandma and Um, um, my grandma's sisters, um, as well as my mom.
Uh, so my mom passed away in 2006. As she passed away, they couldn't actually measure, um, or, or test my gene, um, because they would have needed the active cancer cells in her blood, um, to compare with mine in order to find out what it is, um, that needs to be done. Um, fast forward.
11 years, um, and they were able to do that. So I have been able to, um, act. Act on the result.
The results were very high. I've had, um, 89% chance of uh breast cancer and 40% chance of ovarian cancer, so I decided to go down the surgery route rather than the screening route. Um, The, the thing is my daughter is 21 now.
Um, we have no idea at this point whether or not she's got the gene. Um, she doesn't want to find out yet and I totally get that, um, because, of course, it's once you know you've got to make a decision. Um, the decision could be monitoring, um, so regular screening, um, or it could be.
Um, or it could be surgery, but hopefully, as time goes on, there'll be more research out there that will then maybe even offer, um, drug-related, um, preventative measures, etc. So that's the hope. Um, my message in relation to the screening aspect, so, um, my experience between 2006 and 2017 was, I've never had.
A scan or a screening invite during that time. Um, it was up to me to go back to the GP, um, and. Sort of make them aware of my family history and is there anything I needed to do, which then ultimately um snowballed into into the actual actions that happened, um.
So with that in mind, um, there were, um, my, my message to people is to, to get the screening done. Um, I, I was there when my mom died. Um, her ovarian cancer, by the way, went undetected, um.
Until it was too late. Um, so the, the smear test, for example, extremely important to just go and get that sorted out. Um, in relation to the, um, the screening of lumps, I know, um, again, from, um, family experience that some lumps are detectable, um, just by self-assessment.
So that needs to happen once a month. Um, the other. Um, but the, the other point to make is that there are also lumps that can only be seen, um, during screening.
So it is important that people go and, and, and get their screening done once they're invited to, um, not, you know, uh, automatically by the NHS when they hit a certain age. Um, so that's basically, um, the experience I wanted to share, um. Breast cancer is, is a, is a terrible disease, um, and it needs It needs Serious, um, looking at and thinking about, um, and if something as simple as a, um, as a screening every so often, um, just helps to, to, you know, for peace of mind and to keep, keep a person safe, then that is absolutely what needs to happen, um.
It's a, it's a rough journey. I have, I've had a double mastectomy since then. Um, so in 2018, I went straight under the knife and had both boobs replaced.
Um, it was terrible because obviously you walk in as a perfectly healthy person and you walk out with um, with kind of important parts of your body missing. Um, And I didn't anticipate the Emotional damage that caused me, um, the Mental, uh, the mental sort of, um, Impact it also had um because I, I, I just couldn't deal with stress anymore. It was, it was really quite bad, um.
And all of that It was worth it though, and I feel extremely lucky that I was given a choice. Um, if people don't go for their screening, that choice might be taken away from them. Um, so that would be, that would be the message.
If you needed anything else from me, I'm more than happy to have a chat..