My great-grandmother, grandmother, two great-aunts and mother all died of breast or ovarian cancer. Five weeks after my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, I, at the age of 34, was diagnosed with breast cancer too. My little sister had a lump removed that contained pre-cancerous cells. She was 29. My mother was tested for BRCA 1 and 2 -- negative. But the genetic doctor who tested her told all of us, "It's not whether you have a genetic mutation. It's which one. We're still looking for BRCA 3." I and my sisters are in clinical trials to find what genetic mutation haunts us, and we live each day knowing that the chances are we'll be diagnosed with cancer (for me, for the third time, as I had melanoma at the age of 31). But there's no point living in fear. That's what I learned. My cancer was eight years ago. My mother died three years ago. But she lived her last years with grace and strength. I think of her courage ever day.

Thank you for writing about this.