Allison’s Family History of Breast Cancer: Trusting Your Doctor

Understanding your family history of breast cancer and your own risk can take an emotional toll. Finding a doctor that she trusted empowered Allison to face her risk and be proactive about her health.

Audio Descriptive Text

• Super comes up with “Allison On trusting your doctor”
• Allison’s phone is shown vibrating and receiving a call from a private number.
• Allison’s family photos are shown.
• Throughout the video, Allison is shown seated as she is interviewed.
• “Selfies” of Allison are shown.
• A blurry, shadowy gynecology office is shown.
• A gynecologist’s hand is shown pointing at paperwork.
• More photos of Allison are shown, including post-hysterectomy recovery photos.
• Photos of Allison and her children are shown.
• Super comes up with “It’s Time to Talk About Breast Cancer Risk”
• The last screen shows “BRING YOUR BRAVE” with the logos for the National Association for Chronic Disease Directors and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and directs viewers to visit: cdc.gov/bringyourbrave

Script

[Allison] I got the call, I think I was at work. The doctor told me that she’d like to see me the next day, and I just knew something was up. So in my family history, my grandmother’s sister had breast cancer, my sister had breast cancer, and my dad had colon cancer. And that’s how I ended up taking a genetic test. I mean, I’m not gonna lie, I was on pins and needles for weeks. You know, never in a million years did I think that she would tell me I would have the BRCA gene. I mean, in the moment, I felt my chest closing in, I felt my throat closing in. You know, what is this? What do I have? And then what do I do next, what does this mean? I was just very confused about everything that was going on. And so I met with her gynecologic oncologist. I was kind of on the verge of, like, crying from the moment I walked in there, but, you know, she was so knowledgeable, she was so empathetic. Just so kind. She just went through step by step of, like, what happens from finding out that you’re a BRCA carrier and these are your options. And, I mean, it was literally everything. Because before meeting with a medical professional, you’re creating your own stories in your mind. After meeting both of my doctors, I ended up having a full hysterectomy, and it was something that I felt really confident and I knew I wanted to do. Because, you know, I’m a mother and there’s nothing that I would not do to be around for the kids. So... Now, like, whenever I go to see my doctor, my decisions are based so much off of her expertise, because knowledge is power. And when you can arm yourself with the facts, it’s a game-changer.