Ashley Huffman and Danielle Jones are twins — they went through all of life’s challenges together for more than 30 years of life. Now, the sisters from Michigan have even been through breast cancer together.
Huffman was diagnosed first in November 2018, when she was just 32. Being diagnosed with cancer at a young age can sometimes mean that you carry a familial risk for the disease, so Jones decided to get genetic testing after her sister’s diagnosis. The sisters both carry a BRCA2 gene. BRCA mutations significantly increase a woman’s chance of developing breast cancer, and hike the risk for ovarian cancer as well. Women who find out they carry the gene before an actual cancer diagnosis often opt to have preventative mastectomies. Anyone concerned about their family history with breast cancer should consider being tested for these mutations, particularly if a close relative was diagnosed before the age of 50. There are some preventative options aside from a mastectomy that at-risk women may want to consider.
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