Family History Not Guarantee Of Breast Cancer

BOSTON -- Among the millions of families impacted by breast cancer is that of SportsCenter 5's Mike Lynch.

"I have a strong family history. My mother and her three sisters all had breast cancer," said Mary Ellen Lynch.

Another one of Lynch's relatives had ovarian cancer. She and her husband had heard the diagnosis many times, even before Mary Ellen got cancer herself.

"She's not a fatalist by any means, she is a realist," said Lynch.

She said, "For me it wasn't like, "Am I going to get it? It was, 'When am I going to get it?'"

Mike remembers all too well when his wife broke the news of her diagnosis to him. "I was in New Orleans for the Super Bowl, it was January 2002, and when you first hear the news, you are speechless."

Mike and Mary Ellen have three daughters. Is it a sure bet that they, too, will get breast cancer? Even with this strong family history, the answer is no.

Dr. Nancy Norman of the Boston Public Health Commission tells women, "Don't let it be your death sentence. Pay attention to it but don't feel as though it's weighted 500 times more than it is."

Many high-profile women who've gone public with their diagnoses recently, including Elizabeth Edwards, "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts, and NewsCenter 5's Kelley Tuthill, had no family history of breast cancer.

In fact, of all cancers, there is a genetic link in only 5 to 10 percent of them. Scientists have spent the better part of four decades searching for cancer clues in our DNA, but have found few.

Doctors want you to know that if you have a strong family history, there are proactive steps you can take.

The first is to get early screening. "So if your mother was diagnosed at 45, we would start screening you at 35," said Dr. Elsie Levin of the Faulkner Hospital in Jamaica Plain.

Also, doctors should be kept up-to-date on any changes in your, or your close relatives' health.

Dr. Valerie Fein-Zachary, a radiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said that is why physicians often ask patients to fill out the same medical history forms year after year. "It's because we would like to make an appropriate assessment of your mammogram and whether or not we think you should you have an additional test like an ultrasound or if we should recommend an MRI."

Until we have more answers, the key, said Norman, is perspective. "It makes women feel as though, if I don't have a family history, phew, I don't have to worry, but if I do, oh my gosh, then I'm destined for this diagnosis."

Mike and Mary Ellen Lynch's three daughters are now 24, 22 and 19 years old. He tells his daughters, "You are a lot luckier than your mother was, you're a lot luckier than your grandmother was, and your great-grandmother was. Because there have been so many advances now in the study of breast cancer. My hope for every woman out there, including my three daughters, is that someday there is a cure."

The National Cancer Institutes has a quick questionnaire women can do online to approximate their risk of getting breast cancer.