For three generations, Kristin Crowley’s family used one phrase to explain the pattern: the cancer curse. Grandparents, aunts, a mother, an uncle. Pancreatic, breast, ovarian, biliary duct. Different diagnoses, same family. When Crowley’s mother Christine and her aunts Janet and Casey were diagnosed, genetic testing finally revealed the truth. Her grandfather had five children, and four of them inherited a BRCA2 mutation.
Crowley tested positive too and carried that knowledge for nearly a decade before choosing a preventive bilateral mastectomy, a surgery that reduces breast cancer risk by about 95%. Three months after the operation, pathology found a 3-millimeter ductal carcinoma in situ in the removed tissue. Her last mammogram had come back clean. Because the cancer was so small and non-invasive, the surgery was the only treatment she needed.
Today, genetic testing returns results in as little as two weeks, and most insurance plans cover it for people with a family history. Crowley’s family history includes relatives lost to pancreatic cancer in 2022 and biliary duct cancer at 65. If similar patterns show up in your family, that history is worth writing down and bringing to your doctor. Have you ever asked the older generation in your family about inherited health conditions?
