Morgan Wade's Double Mastectomy & Genetic Risk For Breast Cancer
- Country star Morgan Wade, 29, is celebrating the new release of her fourth studio album, which features her music icon Kesha on one of he songs, nearly one year after undergoing a preventative breast removal surgery—a procedure she underwent after learning she had a higher genetic risk of getting breast cancer.
- A double mastectomy typically takes surgeons about two hours to remove both breasts and eliminate the cancer. If a woman opts to have reconstructive surgery after the mastectomy, surgeons either use an implant or take tissue from elsewhere on the body.
- Sometimes, a double mastectomy is performed to reduce breast cancer risk, especially for women at higher risk who have a family history of the disease or possess the BRCA gene mutation, or RAD51D gene mutation, like Wade.
- In the case of the RRAD51D gene, which Wade has, the Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered advocacy group explains, “women with a RAD51D mutation have about a 20-40 percent lifetime risk for breast cancer with a tendency for triple-negative breast cancer.” Additionally, women with this type of gene mutation “have about a 10-20 percent lifetime risk for ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer (these three cancers and their risks are related and are often referred to together as ovarian cancer),” the group says.
- BRCA on the other hand, is two genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2). According to the National Cancer Institute, BRCA1 (BReast CAncer gene 1) and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer gene 2) are genes that produce proteins that work to repair damaged DNA. The BRCA genes are sometimes referred to as tumor suppressor genes since changes, or mutations, in these genes can lead to cancer.
Wade’s fourth studio album “Obsessed” was released on August 16, 2024, through RCA Nashville, and the fourth song on the new album, titled “Walked on Water,” features a beautiful duet with 37-year-old “Blah Blah Blah” singer Kesha.
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“I am so incredibly honored to have her on my song. She is so talented and just such a genuine kind person. Walked On Water is out now.”
In the footage, Wade is seen introducing herself alongside Kesha, followed by clips of her and Kesha chatting backstage.
The song lyrics, which Wade is heard singing first, are as follows, “I fell off the Earth, I fell out of touch / I’m fightin’ every urge to go out and get drunk.
“Hit my plug for some pills, for insomnia / When I’m awake, I’m just thinkin’ of us / But we aren’t the same, I wish you well / As you’re prayin’ to God that I just burn in hell.”
In the song’s second verse, Kesha is heard singing the following lyrics, “I thought we’d get married, move to the beach / But like everything I said, it’s just smoke and dreams.
“And I’m layin’ in this bed, ain’t makin’ love / I might lose to myself, hell, I might just give up.”
Speaking to ABC News earlier this month, about her new album and why she chose Kesha to sing alongside her, Wade explained, “I have loved Kesha since, you know, 20 … whatever year it was that “Tik Tok” came out … I was still in high school, but I heard that song and some of my best memories with my friends were just riding around and listening to her stuff.
“But I just loved everything that she’s done. I think she’s just such a great person. So I was finally able to make contact with her, I’ve been wanting to do that for years.”
Wade continued, “And so, we met and then we sat on the beach in Malibu and we talked. And then that night, she was like, ‘I’ll meet you at 7:30 or 8’o clock at the studio,’ and I was like a.m.? and she was like, ‘no – p.m. … lets go!’
“And we went and she sang on my song. That, for me, that child in me was super excited. She’s so great, she’s got her independence back and owns her stuff and it’s so awesome.”
Wade’s new album release comes about nine months after she a underwent preventative double mastectomy and followup breast reconstruction.
A prophylactic, or preventative, mastectomy is an operation where the breast tissue is removed to prevent cancer from developing in the future.
“Risk-reducing mastectomies are an operation where we take women at, usually, very high-risk for getting breast cancer for genetic mutation carriers, who are the ones at the highest risk; there’s unfortunately only one way to actually prevent breast cancer,” Dr. Elisa Port, Chief of Breast Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System, tells SurvivorNet.
Expert Mastectomy Resources
- Beautiful and Badass – Survivor Explains Why She Got Mastectomy Tattoos
- For Breast Reconstruction After Mastectomy, Women May Choose ‘Now,’ ‘Later,’ or ‘Never’
- Implant Reconstruction After a Mastectomy: The Options
- Is a Preventative Mastectomy Right for Me?
- Should I Have a Lumpectomy or Mastectomy?
- What Happens During a Double Mastectomy?
- To Reconstruct or Not: After Mastectomy, Two Women Take Very Different Paths
- What is Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy?
Wade said in an Instagram post updating her fans about her recovery, that she was “blessed to have the knowledge to take [her] health into [her] own hands.”
The “Psychopath” singer previously told People about how both her grandmother and great-aunt passed away from pancreatic cancer. She also had an aunt who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 30 years old, something which prompted her cousin to get tested for gene mutations, which ultimately revealed the RAD51D gene mutation and inspired Wade to get tested. She, too, had the same mutation.
Once Wade discovered she had a gene mutation which raised her risk of breast cancer, she chose to have both breasts removed on Nov. 18, a four-hour procedure which included reconstructive surgery.
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Gene Mutations and Breast Cancer
In understanding the role RAD51D or BRCA gene mutations play in breast cancer risk, it’s crucial to know what these gene mutations actually are.
In the case of the RRAD51D gene, the Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered advocacy group explains, “women with a RAD51D mutation have about a 20-40 percent lifetime risk for breast cancer with a tendency for triple-negative breast cancer.” Additionally, women with this type of gene mutation “have about a 10-20 percent lifetime risk for ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer (these three cancers and their risks are related and are often referred to together as ovarian cancer),” the group says.
BRCA on the other hand, is two genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2). According to the National Cancer Institute, BRCA1 (BReast CAncer gene 1) and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer gene 2) are genes that produce proteins that work to repair damaged DNA. The BRCA genes are sometimes referred to as tumor suppressor genes since changes, or mutations, in these genes can lead to cancer.
WATCH: What Happens During a Double Mastectomy
Everyone is born with two copies of each of the BRCA genes, one inherited from each parent. If either parent carries a BRCA gene mutation, there’s a 50-50 chance the child will carry it as well.
When BRCA1 or BRCA2 have certain mutations, or changes, men and women are at a higher risk level for several cancers, most notably breast and ovarian cancer in women.
According to the National Cancer Institute, 55 to 72 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA1 variant will get breast cancer by the time they reach 70 to 80 years old. Similarly, 45 to 69 percent of women who inherit a harmful BRCA2 variant will get breast cancer by that same age.
The percentage of women in the general population who will get breast cancer in their lifetime? About 13 percent.
“If a woman has one of these mutations the genetic BRCA1 and (BRCA)2 mutations, it puts her at basically the highest quantifiable risk for getting breast cancer,” Dr. Elisa Port, a surgical oncologist at Mount Sinai, told SurvivorNet. “We typically say between the 60 (percent) and 80 percent range.”
If you have a family history of cancer, like Morgan Wade, genetic testing could be one way for you to find out if you have harmful genetic mutations that increase your risk of developing certain cancers. Ask your doctor if genetic testing is right for you.
Dr. Port explained, “We now feel that casting a wider net with genetic testing is probably very prudent because finding out that one has a cancer predisposition gene can definitely change their course, their risk for cancer and what they might want to do about it.”
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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