Kane County Chronicle | Genetics and breast cancer

Ten years ago, having your breasts and ovaries removed because of a cancer gene was considered "voodoo science," Geneva resident Vicky Waterman said.

At 49, Waterman, after considering a family history of both types of cancers, found she had the genes for both and opted to get her breast and ovaries removed to prevent ever getting breast or ovarian cancer.

Now 51 and the owner of V Fusion, a fitness center at 129 1/2 W. State St. in Geneva, the longtime dancer and Pilates instructor is lean and fit.

"My grandmother and great-grandmother had it," Waterman said of breast and ovarian cancer. "My mother has stage 4 ovarian cancer. When she first got diagnosed, the doctor said, 'You have a daughter, don't you?' And the doctor said to do genetic testing."

Turns out her mom was a carrier. Waterman got the test, and she is, too.

"Knowledge is power, but the problem with all this stuff, once you have that knowledge you can't go back," Waterman said. "I had to process a minefield of aftershocks."

The genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 are tumor suppressors. When they mutate, a woman's risk of getting breast or ovarian cancer are increased, according to the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

She considered how breasts are front and center in the culture. And how a woman facing a breast cancer gene might pause at the prospect of losing her most obvious female attributes.

"Our society is very shallow sometimes," Waterman said.

And then she went ahead with the surgeries and followed up with breast reconstruction.

"This is only me ? I did not get most favorable results in the outcome, in how they look," Waterman said. "Emotionally, every day I see them and it still bothers me. I lost one nipple and it's not reconstructed because I'm tired of being under the knife."

She acknowledges that her choice is not for everybody.

"You have to look at the whole thing," Waterman said. "I have a loving husband, and we just had our 25th wedding anniversary. I have greater peace of mind. We are good as far as the big picture, but I can get caught up in little things."

Another aspect of opting to remove the breasts is how a body heals, she said.

"The doctors can only do so much," Waterman said. "I have the body type that develops infection and scar tissue. I feel that [scar tissue] every day. They don't tell you that. When I do pushups, I still experience a lot of pain ? and I smile through it in the sense that I can do a pushup, and I'm happy about that. A lot go through a lot worse. Intellectually, I made the right decision."

Waterman plans to have her daughter genetically tested and would like her son tested as well because men can be carriers and pass it on. She said he does not see the need.

As she holds various fitness classes in her studio, Waterman said she gets great satisfaction in helping other women get stronger.

"I lose myself in my business every day," Waterman said. "It makes me feel stronger to help others be stronger. It's not that surface beauty, it's that inner beauty."

And then there are those biceps.

"The good news is that the new eye-candy is biceps," Waterman said. "My biceps are really really good. I got some good guns."

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Source: http://www.kcchronicle.com/2011/10/24/genetics-and-breast-cancer/avrrixz/

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