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Woman makes difficult decision to become a 'previvor'

One woman made the difficult decision to have radical surgery after gene testing showed she was at very high risk of developing breast cancer.

ST. LOUIS – You've met a lot of breast cancer survivors over the years here at 5 On Your Side.

But you're about to meet a woman who is a member of a unique group opting for radical surgery even before they're diagnosed with breast cancer.

She calls herself not a survivor but a "previvor."

"My grandfather had stomach cancer, my grandmother had cancer, my aunt had ovarian cancer, and then there is a great uncle that had pancreatic cancer,” said Dawn Drennen.

A climb through Dawn’s family tree is a sobering journey through many different kinds of cancer. And that's just on her mother's side.

It wasn't until she started to do some research on her father’s side that she found a great uncle who died of breast cancer. Her paternal grandmother had died of ovarian cancer. That’s when she decided to get genetic testing.

"They told me I had a 75 percent chance of breast cancer, lifetime risk,” said Dawn. "I was shocked."

Shocked, but determined.

The registered nurse who's also an avid biker decided, instead of a lifetime of scans that would check for breast cancer every six months, she'd have surgery to completely remove her healthy breasts.

"To me, to have that peace of mind, my husband is fully supportive, and very grateful that we had this knowledge and that I was able to do something about it," said Dawn.

Two years ago, at 48, after her preventive mastectomies, Dawn became what she calls a previvor.

"It's not an easy decision. It's not an easy decision at all,” said Dawn. “And you're doing something without knowing if you're going to get cancer, for sure."

It turns out there's very little good data on the numbers of women making the very difficult decision Dawn did.

What we do know is the numbers of women having a healthy breast removed after being diagnosed with cancer on the other side have skyrocketed.

"The rates used to be under five percent that we would see women getting bi-lateral mastectomies,” said Dr. Theresa Schwartz, a breast surgeon at SSM Health St. Louis University Hospital.

Now, mastectomies of healthy breasts for risk reduction in women already diagnosed with cancer is over 40 percent in Missouri.

Huge advances have also been made in genetic testing.

"The things that we test for now has just exploded,” explained Dr. Schwartz. “A few years ago, we only tested for one or two genetic mutations, to see if someone had a hereditary predisposition to cancer. But now we can test for sometimes 40 even up to 75 different genes."

Testing Dawn believes saved her life. This mother and wife now says she has a peace of mind, knowing she's given herself the best chance to enjoy the full circle of life.

"No regrets,” said Dawn. “I did it first. And I told myself, you know, that's normal. That's a normal feeling. And it was a process. It probably took me a good year to really accept and be able to move on and say, yes, I am at peace. I have no regrets."

There is still time to register for the 2018 Susan G. Komen Greater St. Louis Race for the Cure.

It's Saturday, June 9, and registration is open up until race day.

For more information on the race, click here.

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