![Mayo Clinic home page [logo]](/images-global/mayologo.gif)
Discover how you can help support Mayo Clinic.
Intro: Every year more and more women are winning the battle against breast cancer. That's largely due to early detection and better treatments. And some women at high risk for the disease are doing whatever they can to prevent breast cancer from developing in the first place. These prevention strategies range all the way from close monitoring, to genetic testing to medications to surgery. And all strategies have risks that women at high risk need to know. Let's go to Mayo Clinic to learn how one woman is being proactive in preventing breast cancer -- the disease that took her mother's life.
| Video | Audio |
| Total running time 1:36 | |
Jodi SchliemLost mom to breast cancer |
"MY MOTHER WAS DIAGNOSED AT AGE 35 WITH BREAST CANCER AND PASSED AWAY AT AGE 40." |
VO: Pictures of Jodi and her mom To Jodi playing outside with kids |
JODI SCHLIEM WAS ONLY THIRTEEN WHEN SHE LOST HER MOM. THE FACT THAT JODI'S MOM HAD BREAST CANCER AT AN EARLY AGE PUT JODI AT HIGH RISK FOR THE DISEASE. SHE DECIDED TO DO EVERYTHING IN HER POWER TO MAKE SURE HER CHILDREN DIDN'T LOSE THEIR MOM TOO. |
Jodi Schliem |
"I WANTED TO DO SOMETHING THAT WAS GOING TO GIVE ME A BETTTER CHANCE OF NOT GOING DOWN THAT SAME PATH. AND THE ONLY ANSWER FOR ME WAS A MASTECTOMY." |
Standup Vivien Williams Reporting |
AFTER LEARNING HER OPTIONS, JODI CHOSE TO HAVE BOTH BREASTS REMOVED -- A PROCEDURE CALLED PROPHYLACTIC MASTECTOMY. SHE ALSO HAD HER OVARIES REMOVED BECAUSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE BREAST CANCER GENES -- BRCA ONE AND TWO -- ARE ALSO AT INCREASED RISK OF DEVELOPING OVARIAN CANCER. BUT JODI DOESN'T KNOW IF SHE HAS THE GENES. DOCTORS OFFERED GENETIC TESTING, YET SHE OPTED NOT TO DO IT. WHY? BECAUSE THE TEST - WHICH IS A SIMPLE BLOOD TEST -- IS NOT FOOL PROOF. |
Sandhya Pruthi, M.D. Mayo Clinic Breast Cancer Clinic |
"IF WE IDENTIFY A POSITIVE TEST, THAT PERSON HAS A 40 TO 80 PERCENT CHANCE OF GETTING BREAST CANCER OVER THEIR LIFETIME." |
| BUT DR. SANDHYA PRUTHI SAYS IF THE TEST IS NEGATIVE THERE'S STILL A SMALL CHANCE YOU COULD HAVE AN UNKNOWN GENE MUTATION THAT WASN'T PICKED UP. BUT NO MATTER WHAT THE TEST SHOWED, JODI WANTED SURGERY ANYWAY. | |
| Jodi Schliem | "I WANT TO BE HERE FOR MY KIDS." |
| SURGERY WAS A TOUGH DESCISION. RECOVERY WAS DIFFICULT. BUT JODI TOOK THE TIME TO LEARN THE RISKS AND BENEFITS BEFOREHAND. AND EVERY TIME SHE HEARS HER KIDS GIGGLE, JODI FEELS CERTAIN SHE MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE. | |
| FOR MEDICAL EDGE, I'M VIVIEN WILLIAMS. |
Tag: In no way are mastectomy and removing ovaries the only options for high risk women. They may choose instead to take medications, one of which is tamoxifen (tuh MAHX uh fen). That drug prevents breast cancer in post menopausal women. Or they may choose to watch and wait, monitoring their health closely with regular self breast exams, mammograms or even MRI's. Dr. Pruthi says all high risk women need to take time to decide the right course for them. For more information, log onto our Web site at ...
STATIONS: Per the licensing agreement, please provide a link from your station's Web site to www.mayoclinic.org/medical-edge or voice tag "mayoclinic.org/medical-edge" for more information.
.
