My BRCA+ Positive Story | The Journey Is Just Beginning

THE INTRO

I got my BRCA positive diagnosis on a random weekday sitting on the couch at my best friend's house. It wasn't in a doctor's office, they told me nonchalantly over the phone and immediately started listing off appointments I needed to go to ASAP.

For the first month, I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to unleash all my words to the public. Then? I had a breakdown on the way to my first breast surgeon consult. I KNOW I am not the only one who feels like they need to scream at the top of their lungs about BRCA.

There is anger. There is grief. There is rage. There is confusion. There is heartache. There are endless tears. There is fear. There is relief. There is everything and more.

Welcome to my official BRCA positive journey as a 28 year old, type 1 diabetic.

--

November 28th, 2022 my father died from cancer.

Small Cell Prostate Cancer. The rarest prostate cancer that exists.

My dad's side of the family had a very heavy history of cancer. The entire family of 4...all non-survivors of Cancer.

My mother also had cancer, twice, and kicked its ass both times.

Anyway, I decided that at 27 it was time to get genetic testing done. My husband and I were MAYBE thinking about having babies in the future... and based on both our family's history it was the road we needed to travel before we made the decision.

My dad always used to say he was going to die young and I hated when he said it, but now I get it.

And he didn't even know he had the BRCA mutation, but now I know.

I know and I wish I didn't, but I do?

Having a BRCA mutation was the last thing my Type 1 diabetic self needed, but here we are trying to add this to the list of things to think and stress about on the daily.

Some days I feel really empowered, like now I get to decide how this is going to play out (well, kinda).

I have the opportunity to know, I get to make the decisions, I can be proactive with screening and surgeries, so Cancer maybe won't hit me like a truck like dad's did.

It was our vow renewal in Mexico. My husband and I just moved back from Italy and my parents had missed our wedding because of COVID, so of course Dad immediately said "DESTINATION VOW RENEWAL IT IS" and there we were - planning it for a whole year together. Truthfully I think my dad and I did more of the planning than my husband and I together. It's a personality trait, oops.

It was the best damn wedding my husband and I could have ever dreamed of.

Little did I know it was the last ever trip together. Our last ever father daughter dance. Our last ever beach day. Our last ever everything.

The day before coming home, my parents broke the news to us. My dad called at 8am, as one does, and asked if they could come to our room. I already knew something was OFF, but never in my life would have jumped straight to cancer.

3 weeks later my dad was gone.

It's like time sped up. It didn't make any sense.

My dad- the one who was always on the other side of the hospital bed with me when mom was sick, my dad- the one who never even got the flu, my dad- the doctor who was supposed to know EVERYTHING. He faded in front of us for 3 weeks and it was so painful I can't even put the feeling into words.

Honestly, when I got my genetic testing done I didn't even know what I was looking for, or what I even expected. I didn't even know what BRCA was! I didn't even know I needed to be worried about having it.

All I knew was that I didn't want to get a surprise visit from Cancer, when I've got a life I love and want to live.