After discovering she had the deadly BRCA1 gene, EastEnders star Kara Tointon bravely revealed she had had a double mastectomy.
Kara Tointon has had a double mastectomy seven years after losing her mum, Carol, to ovarian cancer. The EastEnders star, 41, underwent the major operation after finding out she carries the deadly BRCA1 gene.
Announcing that she has undergone a double mastectomy and had her fallopian tubes removed as a preventative measure, she bravely told her followers on Instagram: “You may have heard of the BRCA genes type 1 and 2 and as a carrier it means that I am at a greater risk of both breast and ovarian cancer. Back in 2018 when my mum was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, I was asked to take a genetics test. There is a history of both cancers in my family but for various reasons including generational trauma of which I’ll talk more about another time, we hadn’t looked into it until that point. But it was put to us, we took the test and it was confirmed that my mum and I both carried the gene.”
As a mum-of-two, Kara explained that her family came first when she made her decision to have the preventative surgery. She continued: “I was pregnant with my first child at the time, knew I wanted more children if possible so over the next couple of years I was invited to various meetings by the NHS to really become informed and to understand all my options.
I had two preventative surgeries last year after deciding that our family was complete after having my second son in 2021. The first was a double mastectomy, the second a two-part study, a trial. They say that fallopian tubes are where ovarian cancer starts, so they can be removed by removing them after checking out.
Cancer is not typically inherited, but some types, particularly breast, ovarian, colorectal, and prostate cancer, can be influenced significantly by genes and develop in families.
According to its website, “We all have certain genes that are typically protective against cancer.” Any DNA damage that occurs naturally when cells divide is corrected by these genes.
Your risk of developing cancer is significantly increased by inheriting defective or “variants” of these genes because the altered genes cannot repair the damaged cells, which can accumulate and develop into tumors.
The altered gene expressions BRCA1 and BRCA2 are examples of those that raise your risk of developing cancer. A woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer and breast cancer is greatly increased by having a variant BRCA gene.
After talking about this for a while, she said, “We are finding out more and more about personal genetics, and most people believe in surveillance, but we have been doing this for a couple of years, having MRIs, and waiting for biopsy, we decided that this was the right decision for me and my family.”
“It wasn’t an easy choice, but I’m glad I made it,” he said, and I can now, in retrospect, speak about it properly.
If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Breast Cancer Support.
Source: Mirror
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