Genetic testing analyzes a person’s DNA to determine their risk for certain diseases. It was a game-changer for one Montgomery County woman.<\/p>\n
Genetic testing is a simple mouth swab that can uncover what the future might hold medically.<\/p>\n
“I got genetic testing on a whim,” Jessica Getson said. “But I’ve always been this give me knowledge, give me power person.”<\/p>\n
For Getson, it’s her family heritage being Ashkenazi Jewish that puts her at high risk for breast cancer.<\/p>\n
“I really never thought that I would end up with cancer,” she said.<\/p>\n
But the testing showed she did carry the genes that increase the risk, so she qualified for additional screenings that included MRIs. A year ago, she was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.<\/p>\n
“So I had a double mastectomy in April of 2024,” Getson said.<\/p>\n
Rachael Brandt is a certified genetic counselor who runs Main Line Health’s genetics and risk assessment program.<\/p>\n
“The technology that we have has also improved. So, someone who tested negative for BRCA1 or BRCA2 may test positive for either of those genes today based on new methods,” Brandt said.<\/p>\n
She said genetic testing, which can check for a variety of diseases, is for people with risk factors that include having a family history.<\/p>\n
“The hard part is deciding if you want to have the information, right?” Brandt said. “Psychologically, do you want to know you might be at a higher risk for something?”<\/p>\n
She said the main benefit of genetic testing is prevention. People who test positive can get more screenings, and that can lead to early detection and more.<\/p>\n
“The earlier we find cancer, the more likely it’s treatable,” Brandt said. “The second is prevention. We have options through medication or surgery to reduce the risk of breast cancer in somebody who is a carrier.”<\/p>\n
Getson said she feels great now and is grateful.<\/p>\n
“It was found stage 1, and had it grown for another six months, my prognosis would have been much more grim,” she said.<\/p>\n
In addition to breast cancer, genetic testing can be done for several other cancers, including melanoma, pancreatic and colon cancer, and it is usually covered by insurance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Genetic testing analyzes a person’s DNA to determine their risk for certain diseases. It was a game-changer for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[1378,169325,267,112367,4342,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-520660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-breast-cancer","9":"tag-breast-cancer-awareness-month","10":"tag-genetics","11":"tag-montgomery-county","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115420154195890915","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}