Karon McCormick was in her 60s when she was diagnosed with breast cancer; both of her sisters were diagnosed with the disease as well one 20 years before Karon, and the other shortly after Karon’s diagnosis.
Doctors say this was pure coincidence; however, in some cases, people carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutation, which increases breast and ovarian cancer risk.
Breast cancer is typically detected via mammogram, and it can be treated with chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.
Karon McCormick of Colorado was not the first in her family to get diagnosed with breast cancer she was the second. And not long after, her other sister was also diagnosed with the disease.
In an interview with KRDO, Karon describes her family’s cancer journey. She says, “[My twin sister] was just 43 [when she was diagnosed with breast cancer], so I’ve always kept an eye on it.”
“Don’t let fear hinder you.” Twenty years later, in 2017, Karon was diagnosed, too thanks to a mammogram, which saved her life. She almost skipped the mammogram, saying, “I thought, ‘well, I’m okay, it’s been twenty years.’ And something in my head said: ‘Go get the mammogram.'” Karon encourages viewers to not let their fear stop them from getting screened for breast cancer. “Don’t let fear hinder you denial doesn’t work,” she says.The three sisters, wearing masks, pictured together during the pandemic in a still from KRDO’s coverage. She continues, “Well, sure enough, I was diagnosed.” Six months after Karon’s diagnosis, her little sister was diagnosed. She had radiation and surgery to treat her cancer.
Today, Karon is a proud survivor of breast cancer.
Do You Have a Family History of Breast Cancer?
While doctors have said that all three sisters getting diagnosed with breast cancer is a coincidence, you should know that there is a genetically inherited mutation the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations which increase a person’s risk of developing breast cancer, as well as ovarian cancer. Speak with your doctor about genetic testing if you’re unsure of your family’s history with breast cancer.
“if you have a BRCA mutation, you actually cannot repair that break.”
In a previous interview, Dr. Rebecca Arend, an associate scientist at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, explained this mutation. She says, “If you think about DNA being a double helix, that we’ve all learned about in basic science, if you have a single strand break, a PARP enzyme is needed to repair that single-strand break.”
“If you have a PARP inhibitor, then you can’t repair that single-strand break,” says Dr. Arend. “And if you have a single strand break that’s not repaired, that actually leads to a double-strand break. So when both of the arms of the DNA helix are broken, then your body has normal mechanisms for repairing that.
“One of them is called homologous recombination,” she continues. “And that’s your body’s natural way of repairing that break. But if you have a BRCA mutation, you actually cannot repair that break”.
Karon McCormick had a lumpectomy to treat her breast cancer. This is a type of surgery similar to another surgical treatment of breast cancer, a mastectomy which is used to combat the disease. Breast cancer is also treated with chemotherapy and radiation.
In an earlier interview, Dr. Ann Partridge, an oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute explains the path to surgery, like the kind Karon had after she was diagnosed.
Dr. Partridge says, "So when I talk to a woman who comes to me and she has breast cancer, I evaluate what the standard options for treatment for her are, which typically include cutting out the cancer which is either a lumpectomy if you can get it all with just a little scooping around of the area that's abnormal or a mastectomy for some women meaning taking the full breast because sometimes these lesions can be very extensive in the breast."
