Guide Note
In August, 2006, Chicago breast cancer activist Lindsay Avner volunteered for a prophylactic double mastectomy, which was performed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Fast Facts
- Age 23 at time of surgery
- Founded the Race For the Cure High School Team Challenge in 2000
- Tested positive in 2005 for a mutation on the BRCA1 gene
- BRAC1 stands for 'breast cancer 1, early onset'
- The mutation carries a heightened risk of breast cancer
- Risk appears to correlate with amount of body fat
- Great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother all developed the disease
- Assistant brand manager at Unilever
Backstory
Avner's mother, Wendy Avner, was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 41, and her grandmother and great-grandmother both died of it before she was born (at ages 39 and 58, respectively). Already a breast cancer activist by age 17, Avner elected to have the double mastectomy to stave off a genetic risk toward the disease, and followed up by becoming a spokeswoman for Bright Pink, an organization to "[provide] support to young women who are at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer." Avner said that the operation "mentally transformed [her] into a new person," and took away the "fear that was stored in [her] breasts."
Categories
