Donna Jacomet’s decision to get a preventive double mastectomy and have her ovaries removed was a simple one after she watched her sister die from cancer that had spread from her breasts to her ovaries and finally, her brain.
“I couldn’t imagine not taking every possible step I could to keep from being in her shoes,” said Jacomet, 51, of San Jacinto.
Her surgeries were years before those of actress Angelina Jolie, who announced this week that she’d had an elective mastectomy earlier this year because she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which increases her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. The actress, who lost her mother to ovarian cancer in 2007, has said she also will have her ovaries removed.
Jolie’s and Jacomet’s stories have many parallels. Jacomet also lost her mother to ovarian cancer. And Jacomet carries the same hereditary gene mutation that makes her five times more likely to develop breast cancer and 10 to 28 times more likely to develop ovarian cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
“I wanted to get it done so I could wake up and say, ‘I’m not a sitting duck anymore.’ When you have those kinds of statistics, it’s not a matter of if, but when,” Jacomet said.
She sees nothing but positives from Jolie’s announcement, which ran as an opinion piece in the New York Times on May 14. The widespread attention it generated may encourage women at risk to have the genetic testing and consider the surgery, Jacomet said.
While there are no statistics on how many women choose preventive mastectomies, medical experts said the number of procedures increased after the discovery of BRCA1 and a fellow cancer gene, BRCA2, in the mid-1990s.
VIDEO: Woman dodges breast cancer with preventive mastectomy
Removing the breasts reduces the chance of developing cancer from 87 percent to less than 5 percent, but there is still no guarantee because not all the tissue can be removed, said Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.
Not everyone needs to be tested for the gene mutation, since it causes only a fraction of the total cancer cases, primarily in families prone to have the defective gene and among women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, he said. Women should know their family history and discuss it with their doctor.
FAMILY HISTORY
Donna Jacomet tested positive for the BRCA1 mutation in 2006, four years after her mother died at age 69. Three of Jacomet’s four sisters also tested positive.
Everyone has the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which usually work as tumor suppressors. But mutations in either of the genes lead to increased cancer risk, according to the Basser Research Center for BRCA 1 & 2 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center.
Two of Jacomet’s siblings had their ovaries removed in fear of cancer, but she was the only one who opted for a mastectomy. Some of the worst pushback she experienced came from some of her sisters, who thought the step was extreme, she said.
But Jacomet had seen what breast cancer can do. Her older sister, Debbi Pysher, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, at the age of 49. Over the years, the cancer returned to her breast, then ravaged her bones, lymph nodes, ovaries, liver and brain.
Pysher died in November, but not before she urged her sisters to do what they could to ward off the disease.
“When you see people you love die from cancer, it’s a really strong motivator,” said Jacomet, a public affairs officer for Eastern Municipal Water District in Perris.
She considered genetic testing in 2003, but it was about $1,800 and wasn’t covered by insurance. At the time, Jacomet was a single mom, and her son and daughter were young.
Eventually, because her sister’s cancer was found to be related to BRCA1, the cost of Jacomet’s test was covered by insurance. Now the test costs $400 to $4,000, depending on whether the woman is the first in her family to be tested.
Both of Jacomet’s surgeries also were covered by insurance.
“I felt like it was a gift my sister gave us, this knowledge. I didn’t want her suffering to be in vain,” Jacomet said.
Genetic testing probably will increase under the Affordable Care Act, which requires that newly created insurance plans cover the costs of counseling and testing for breast cancer risk, said Brawley of the Cancer Society. There is no mandate for the coverage of surgery, however.
“BEST THING FOR ME”
At the Breastlink clinic in Murrieta, 90 to 95 percent of the patients with a BRCA mutation opt for preventive mastectomies, said Dr. Amy Bremner, a breast cancer surgeon. The other option is increased monitoring, which includes clinical breast exams, MRIs and mammograms, she said.
Bremner expects that Jolie’s announcement will increase requests for the genetic testing, she said.
“Angelina Jolie coming out and talking about this is fabulous for women, so the women don’t feel alone. It’s also going to spark this ‘I need to be tested’” trend, she said.
Jacomet didn’t know anyone who’d had the surgery, so she relied on information from books and a website, Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered.
She was 47 when her ovaries were removed. The surgery threw her into menopause so severe that she had to take medication to ward off panic attacks and endured six months of extreme hot flashes and crying jags.
Because of the emotional trial of surgical menopause, it was two years before she was ready for the mastectomy and reconstruction. Doctors found pre-cancerous cells in samples of the tissue they scraped from her chest, from her collarbone to her rib cage. She was 49, the same age Debbi was when her cancer was diagnosed.
The procedure was painful, and she had to undergo a second operation because one of her implantsbecame infected. She was off work for two months.
Despite the “gnarly” scars and lack of sensation, Jacomet is happy with her decision. Her husband praises her for the gift she gave her family.
“It was the best thing for me,” said Jacomet, who calls herself a “previvor.” “I feel like I’m going to be around for a long time and have a good quality of life.”
“I couldn’t imagine not taking every possible step I could to keep from being in her shoes,” said Jacomet, 51, of San Jacinto.
Her surgeries were years before those of actress Angelina Jolie, who announced this week that she’d had an elective mastectomy earlier this year because she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which increases her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. The actress, who lost her mother to ovarian cancer in 2007, has said she also will have her ovaries removed.
Jolie’s and Jacomet’s stories have many parallels. Jacomet also lost her mother to ovarian cancer. And Jacomet carries the same hereditary gene mutation that makes her five times more likely to develop breast cancer and 10 to 28 times more likely to develop ovarian cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.
“I wanted to get it done so I could wake up and say, ‘I’m not a sitting duck anymore.’ When you have those kinds of statistics, it’s not a matter of if, but when,” Jacomet said.
She sees nothing but positives from Jolie’s announcement, which ran as an opinion piece in the New York Times on May 14. The widespread attention it generated may encourage women at risk to have the genetic testing and consider the surgery, Jacomet said.
While there are no statistics on how many women choose preventive mastectomies, medical experts said the number of procedures increased after the discovery of BRCA1 and a fellow cancer gene, BRCA2, in the mid-1990s.
VIDEO: Woman dodges breast cancer with preventive mastectomy
Removing the breasts reduces the chance of developing cancer from 87 percent to less than 5 percent, but there is still no guarantee because not all the tissue can be removed, said Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.
Not everyone needs to be tested for the gene mutation, since it causes only a fraction of the total cancer cases, primarily in families prone to have the defective gene and among women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, he said. Women should know their family history and discuss it with their doctor.
FAMILY HISTORY
Donna Jacomet tested positive for the BRCA1 mutation in 2006, four years after her mother died at age 69. Three of Jacomet’s four sisters also tested positive.
Everyone has the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which usually work as tumor suppressors. But mutations in either of the genes lead to increased cancer risk, according to the Basser Research Center for BRCA 1 & 2 at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Center.
Two of Jacomet’s siblings had their ovaries removed in fear of cancer, but she was the only one who opted for a mastectomy. Some of the worst pushback she experienced came from some of her sisters, who thought the step was extreme, she said.
But Jacomet had seen what breast cancer can do. Her older sister, Debbi Pysher, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, at the age of 49. Over the years, the cancer returned to her breast, then ravaged her bones, lymph nodes, ovaries, liver and brain.
Pysher died in November, but not before she urged her sisters to do what they could to ward off the disease.
“When you see people you love die from cancer, it’s a really strong motivator,” said Jacomet, a public affairs officer for Eastern Municipal Water District in Perris.
She considered genetic testing in 2003, but it was about $1,800 and wasn’t covered by insurance. At the time, Jacomet was a single mom, and her son and daughter were young.
Eventually, because her sister’s cancer was found to be related to BRCA1, the cost of Jacomet’s test was covered by insurance. Now the test costs $400 to $4,000, depending on whether the woman is the first in her family to be tested.
Both of Jacomet’s surgeries also were covered by insurance.
“I felt like it was a gift my sister gave us, this knowledge. I didn’t want her suffering to be in vain,” Jacomet said.
Genetic testing probably will increase under the Affordable Care Act, which requires that newly created insurance plans cover the costs of counseling and testing for breast cancer risk, said Brawley of the Cancer Society. There is no mandate for the coverage of surgery, however.
“BEST THING FOR ME”
At the Breastlink clinic in Murrieta, 90 to 95 percent of the patients with a BRCA mutation opt for preventive mastectomies, said Dr. Amy Bremner, a breast cancer surgeon. The other option is increased monitoring, which includes clinical breast exams, MRIs and mammograms, she said.
Bremner expects that Jolie’s announcement will increase requests for the genetic testing, she said.
“Angelina Jolie coming out and talking about this is fabulous for women, so the women don’t feel alone. It’s also going to spark this ‘I need to be tested’” trend, she said.
Jacomet didn’t know anyone who’d had the surgery, so she relied on information from books and a website, Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered.
She was 47 when her ovaries were removed. The surgery threw her into menopause so severe that she had to take medication to ward off panic attacks and endured six months of extreme hot flashes and crying jags.
Because of the emotional trial of surgical menopause, it was two years before she was ready for the mastectomy and reconstruction. Doctors found pre-cancerous cells in samples of the tissue they scraped from her chest, from her collarbone to her rib cage. She was 49, the same age Debbi was when her cancer was diagnosed.
The procedure was painful, and she had to undergo a second operation because one of her implantsbecame infected. She was off work for two months.
Despite the “gnarly” scars and lack of sensation, Jacomet is happy with her decision. Her husband praises her for the gift she gave her family.
“It was the best thing for me,” said Jacomet, who calls herself a “previvor.” “I feel like I’m going to be around for a long time and have a good quality of life.”