Erika’s Family History of Breast Cancer: Facing Your Risk at a Young Age

Erika was only 28 years old when she learned she had a BRCA gene mutation that raised her risk for breast cancer. Facing your breast cancer risk when you are young and single can be isolating. Here’s her story.

Audio Descriptive Text

• Super comes up with “Erika On an early BRCA2 diagnosis”
• Erika is shown sitting and being interviewed throughout the video.
• A glamorous photo of Erika is shown.
• A photo of Erika and her mother is shown.
• Genetic testing machinery is shown.
• Photos of Erika are shown.
• An IV drip is shown.
• Photos of Erika are shown.
• A photo of Erika presenting to an audience is 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

[Erika] When you are 29, you are not thinking about death or the possibility of dying and, you know, learning that you carry one of these mutations, that’s a really scary thing to think about. My mom had had breast cancer twice before the age of 45. So given my family history, I was 28 when I decided to get screened. When I learned that I carry a BRCA2 gene mutation, which really increases your risk of breast and ovarian cancer, the recommendation was to have a preventative mastectomy as soon as I could schedule it, which I certainly was not prepared to hear. I had a lot of anxiety about what it would be like to have to date and explain, you know, I don’t have cancer, but I have a really high risk of getting it, so I’m going to have a double mastectomy. I think learning that you carry a hereditary cancer mutation it’s already a really challenging emotional process. And so, for myself, I really wanted to find stories about this pretty serious issue from women who were single and didn’t have children yet. And I didn’t find either of those categories. And when you don’t see your story or people like you reflected in the things that you see online, I think that compounds those feelings of isolation. And so I want my story to be that story that I didn’t have six and a half years ago.