A Positive Mindset Through Cancer
- MSNBC political news strategist and commentator Symone Sanders, 32, had a very special guest on her show this past week in honor of breast cancer awareness month: her mother.
- Symone’s mom, fellow media and publishing pro Terri D. Sanders, a “conquerer” of the disease as she likes to say, advocates for early detection via traditional breast cancer screening.
- Whether you want to call yourself a survivor, thriver, conqueror, warrior, or any other name out there, it’s perfectly fine to do what works for you! Everyone’s journey is different, and certain “titles” or traditions don’t work for us all. As long as we respect one another, there is room for all of it!
Symone’s mom, Terri D. Sanders, a “conquerer” of the disease as she likes to say, advocates for early detection via traditional breast cancer screening.
Read MoreWATCH: Symone's Mom @askterrid , aka Madre, says "I am a conqueror. Not a survivor but a conqueror" about her battle with breast cancer. #SYMONE #MSNBC pic.twitter.com/cMAleuWzQR
SYMONE (@symonemsnbc) October 18, 2022
“I found outI felt a lump, and like many women, I was like ‘oh that can’t be,’ I thought, ‘oh, you don’t want to let that go by,'” she explained to her daughter.
Terri shared that her maternal grandmother had a double mastectomy before she was born. “I knew the chance of something being serious was not to be overlooked.”
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Terri recalls her doctor stressing the importance of a positive mental attitude, which Terri one hundred percent agrees with.
Related: TV Star Sobs As She Describes How Her Child Asked If Her Breast Cancer Was 'Contagious'
” … I am a conquerer, not a survivor, but a conqueror.”
Symone noted that she liked the word “conqueror” as well. After all, mother knows best!
Whether you want to call yourself a survivor, thriver, conqueror, warrior, or any other name out there, it’s perfectly fine to do what works for you! Everyone’s journey is different, and certain “titles” or traditions don’t work for us all. As long as we respect one another, there is room for all of it!
Continuing to inspire, educate, and lift each other up is what is most important.
Mental Health: Maintaining a Positive Headspace
When Breast Cancer Runs in the Family
Genetic testing for breast cancer is an "exploding" area, one SurvivorNet expert tells us. And this revolutionary testing method is only going to become more of a common practice.
"It started out with a very narrow field of women and men who were recommended to have it based on certain risk factors, family history of breast cancer, or other cancers, and also ethnic backgrounds," Dr. Elisa Port, a surgical oncologist at Mount Sinai, tells SurvivorNet during a recent interview.
Genetic Testing for Breast Cancer
"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."
What Are the Types of Gene Mutations?
Before taking a genetic test to see if you have a higher risk of developing breast cancer, it's important to be educated on the different types of gene mutations that increase your risk of this cancer.
The most common breast cancer gene mutation, and the one doctors have known about the longest, is the BRCA gene mutation. The BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes help cells repair their DNA damage. Having a change, or mutation, in one of these genes increases a woman's risk of getting breast cancer. These gene mutations are commonly passed down in families; if a parent carries a BRCA gene mutation, there's a 50-50 chance you could be carrying it as well.
Between 5% and 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary. And about 10% of patients who undergo genetic testing will test positive for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, Dr. Julie Rani Nangia, an assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, tells SurvivorNet.
"The genetic BRCA1 and (BRCA)2 mutations, if a woman has one of these mutations … it puts her at basically the highest quantifiable risk for getting breast cancer," Dr. Port says. "We typically say between the 60 (percent) and 80 percent range. Having a BRCA1 and (BRCA)2 mutation also means that that person is at higher risk of getting breast cancer at an earlier age, and also maybe at risk for other cancers like ovarian cancer, like pancreatic cancer for men, prostate cancer and male breast cancer may be a concern."
Contributing by SurvivorNet staff.
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