Cancer
Mum and I just came from Peter Mac (cancer specialists) in the city, and they had discussed with my mother and I about our familial history of cancer. Most of it I had already heard of, since majority of it was telling the doctors/consultants about who had cancer when and where, particularly in my mother's direct line.
My maternal great grandfather died of some abdominal cancer, my maternal grandmother died of cancer of the pancreas back in 2007. My mother was diagnosed with some pre-cancer cells in the cervix back in early 2007, her sister Brenda had some cancer related cells in her breast in 2007 as well. Then my brother died of cancer of the blood a.k.a. leukemia when he was 6 months old.
The consultants said that there is no correlation of having a higher risk of being prone to cancer if you had a familial history of it, since all humans are born with that inherent risk, however they did mention that there would be something wrong with our cancer cells if it appeared that often in the family. They had also said that since my brother was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 3 months old, he was most likely born with it. That elicited a surprise from my mother, because apparently she wasn't told how far along the cancer was by her doctor who only mentioned at the diagnosis that he had an abnormally high amount of white blood cells.
On a lighter note, women under the age of 40 in Victoria are allowed a free HPV vaccination, and HPV or Human Papiloma Virus, can cause cervical cancer. I have taken a preliminary shot for it back in December, and due for another shot next Tuesday. They've registered me as being a participant because they wanna know in 30 years how many of the testees are still alive XD.
My maternal great grandfather died of some abdominal cancer, my maternal grandmother died of cancer of the pancreas back in 2007. My mother was diagnosed with some pre-cancer cells in the cervix back in early 2007, her sister Brenda had some cancer related cells in her breast in 2007 as well. Then my brother died of cancer of the blood a.k.a. leukemia when he was 6 months old.
The consultants said that there is no correlation of having a higher risk of being prone to cancer if you had a familial history of it, since all humans are born with that inherent risk, however they did mention that there would be something wrong with our cancer cells if it appeared that often in the family. They had also said that since my brother was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 3 months old, he was most likely born with it. That elicited a surprise from my mother, because apparently she wasn't told how far along the cancer was by her doctor who only mentioned at the diagnosis that he had an abnormally high amount of white blood cells.
On a lighter note, women under the age of 40 in Victoria are allowed a free HPV vaccination, and HPV or Human Papiloma Virus, can cause cervical cancer. I have taken a preliminary shot for it back in December, and due for another shot next Tuesday. They've registered me as being a participant because they wanna know in 30 years how many of the testees are still alive XD.