Previvors: Facing the Breast Cancer Gene and Making Life-Changing Decisions

Health writer and former Parenting staffer Port provides invaluable information in her excellent reference for "previvors"--people with a predisposition to develop breast cancer. Using the stories of five women who made the gut-wrenching decision to have prophylactic mastectomies (one, at high risk of ovarian cancer, also opted for removal of her ovaries), Port provides a step-by-step guide to the factors affecting one's cancer risk, including the breast cancer genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2; weighing the options for dealing with that risk--scans, "chemoprevention" (e.g., with tamoxifen), surgery; calculating the cost of treatments; and confronting the physical and psychological conditions each alternative might bring. The choice, Roth argues, is personal. And that's where Lisa, Mayde, Amy, Rori, and Suzanne—whose mothers battled breast cancer (here died)--offer roadmaps for "previvors." This book, they say, is the one they wish they and their mothers could have had. (Oct.)