The benefits of genetic testing for breast cancer

During this month of breast cancer awareness, the key message is to get regular check-ups and do monthly self-exams, so women can detect any abnormalities as soon as they appear. This lessens the chance of breast cancer being deadly. Sometimes, finding a lump is the best-case scenario, because it means that you can have it biopsied and removed. In addition, genetic testing can pinpoint if the breast cancer gene runs in your family, and it’s a simple blood test.

My mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer nine years ago. Prior to that, she had her regular mammograms and check-ups, so it was somewhat of a surprise when she found a lump, and it was found to be malignant. After intense chemotherapy and a mastectomy, she has been cancer-free. It was a long road, and she still takes preventive medication, which can be quite draining at times. Now, she is adamant about detection and follows all post-cancer protocols.

After my mother’s treatment was completed, her doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital urged her to get genetic testing done. A simple blood test known as BRCA would show whether she had the cancer gene, which would determine if the disease would be probable in my sister and myself, as well as our daughters. Women with the highest risk variants of BRCA mutations have a theoretical breast cancer risk of 60 to 82 percent, compared to 12 percent of all women. The test came back negative, which was reassuring but still offered no guarantee. Consequently, if she had tested positive, her chances for developing ovarian cancer would have been higher.

Daisy Soros, philanthropist and founder of the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans

Power Women with Victoria Schneps

According to the Breast Cancer Alliance, more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Of those, seven to 10 percent (15,000 to 20,000 cases) will have an inherited predisposition. Among women with that predisposition, more than half (7,000 to 10,000 cases) will be the result of detectable mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2. Those women with a BRCA mutation will also have a 10 to 60 percent risk of developing ovarian cancer in their lifetime (35 to 60 percent risk with a BRCA1 mutation; 10 to 27 percent risk with BRCA2). That’s compared with a 1.5 percent risk of developing ovarian cancer for the general population.

The National Cancer Institute officially recommends that the following have the BRCA tests performed:

• Multiple breast and ovarian cancers within a family (often diagnosed at an early age)

• Two or more primary cancers in a single family member (more than one breast cancer, or breast and ovarian cancer)

• Cases of male breast cancer

It’s vital for women who have had breast cancer to be tested to see if they have the BRCA mutation, for her own battle in fighting cancer, as well as her daughters’ and granddaughters’ health.

Danielle Sullivan, a mom of three, has worked as a writer and editor in the parenting world for more than 10 years. Sullivan also writes about pets and parenting for Disney’s Babble.com. Find her on Facebook and Twitter @DanniSullWriter, or on her blogs, Just Write Mom and Some Puppy To Love.

The Vincent Smith School

Vincent Smith School is a non-profit, coed, independent school for grades 1-12 that serves students from Nassau, Suffolk, and NYC since 1924. The school is most known for its small classes, supportive staff, and individualized programs for students with learning differences such as Dyslexia/Dyscalculia/Dysgraphia, as well as school anxiety, school reluctance, or ADHD.&nbsp; We emphasize academic, college-prep success through differentiated instruction and on-site services as needed for reading, speech, or OT in dedicated classrooms. VSS offers rolling admissions throughout the year at our scenic Port Washington campus. &nbsp;

FlexSchool

Our mission is to provide an engaging&nbsp;learning experience in a supportive environment where students are free to explore their&nbsp;passions, embrace their challenges and find a community of teachers and friends who&nbsp;understand and accept them as they are. Academics: To meet the unique needs of gifted and 2e learners &ndash; students who may have co-occurring&nbsp;learning challenges along with their gifts &ndash; we provide a gifted-level curriculum with built-in&nbsp;scaffolding, developed by credentialed experts in both gifted education and special education,&nbsp;as well as subject-area experts. Small, discussion-based classes ensure our students can&nbsp;engage in stimulating conversation with intellectual peers while receiving individualized attention&nbsp;and support. Talent Development and Experiential Learning: Central to our program is our strengths-based, interest-based approach to learning. All&nbsp;FlexSchool students pursue personal passion projects and choose from a diverse menu of&nbsp;enrichment activities and electives designed to support exploration and talent development. Our&nbsp;signature FlexFriday experiential learning program provides essential connections between&nbsp;classroom learning and the real world. Executive Functioning and Learning Support: All FlexSchool students have access to an extensive range of accommodations, including&nbsp;breaks as needed, daily executive functioning support, flexible seating, extended time, assistive&nbsp;technology and more. Learning Specialist support is available on every FlexSchool campus. Social-Emotional Learning and School Counseling: Our caring team of certified school counselors, under the guidance of a consulting psychologist,&nbsp;provide robust social-emotional learning and social pragmatics programming. Students are&nbsp;welcome to visit the school counselor at any time &ndash; no appointment necessary. FlexSchool&nbsp;counselors also maintain a collaborative relationship with parents and outside providers. Rolling admissions: We understand that student needs don&rsquo;t always neatly align with the academic calendar, so&nbsp;FlexSchool admits students on a rolling basis. To learn more, join FlexSchool founder Jacqui&nbsp;Byrne live via Zoom for a Virtual Open House. To receive a call from our admissions team,&nbsp;inquire online, email us at [email protected] or call 908-279-0787.

Enabling Devices

Enabling Devices is a family-run business that designs, manufactures and sells adapted toys and accessible devices that make life more joyful and fulfilling for children and adults living with disabilities. &nbsp; It started with a train set, a mercury switch, and a young boy whose therapist thought he couldn&rsquo;t play with toys. In 1975 our founder, Dr. Steven Kanor, walked into a room at United Cerebral Palsy/Long Island and saw a boy sitting in a wheelchair, his head resting on his shoulder. When he asked where the toys were, the OT said, &ldquo;He doesn&rsquo;t have the motor skills to play with toys, and he can&rsquo;t lift his head.&rdquo; But Dr. Kanor was not interested in what the boy couldn&rsquo;t do. He was interested in the boy's potential. The next morning, he was back. He&rsquo;d brought a train set, which he&rsquo;d connected to a mercury switch. The switch, the first capability switch he&rsquo;d designed, was attached to the boy&rsquo;s ear. When the boy raised his head, the switch made contact and the train ran around the tracks. After several weeks of playing with this toy, the boy was holding his head up straight, even when the train was not running. Dr. Kanor was elated. Since that day, he never stopped innovating, never stopped trying to make our products better, never stopped designing new devices. Today, our design team is just as passionate, just as creative, and just as committed to innovation as the man who founded this company. Enabling Devices is the place to find toys, devices and tools that help build more joyful, fulfilling lives. We have an extensive selection of adapted toys, capability switches, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, adapted electronics, mounts, iPad products, sensory items and products for the visually impaired. Over the years, the important constants remain. We&rsquo;re still the same small, family-run company Steven Kanor founded in 1978, with the same values of personal connection and deep product knowledge. We&rsquo;re still committed to providing caring, individualized service to each customer. And we&rsquo;re still grateful for the privilege of sharing in your journey.