My name is Luanne Goldman. I was diagnosed with Triple Negative BRCA 1 medullary stage 1 Breast Cancer in June 07.

I was raised as an adoptee and did not obtain my medical history until I was pregnant with my first child. I learned my natural mother (now deceased at age 65) died from breast cancer and her sister, my aunt died from ovarian cancer at age 55. I was diagnosed with cancer at age 45. I did not do genetic testing until after my diagnosis and hindsight being 20/20 would have opted for bilateral mastectomy as prophylactic measure.

I did go for regular mammograms, breast fed my three children and had total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy at age 42 thus I thought reducing risk of breast cancer by removing the hormones that feed it. My cancer is triple negative, not responsive to hormones.

My last mammogram was on 5/10/2007. I did not get a call or letter after 8 days and since they did extra views of my right breast I was already thinking the worst. I work at the hospital where my testing was done so that evening I looked up my mammogram and the radiologist had dictated invasive carcinoma of right breast. No one had notified me! The next morning I scheduled with my primary M.D. and a breast surgeon. One week later I had spot compression and ultrasound. One week after that I had stereotactic biopsy which confirmed the cancer diagnosis. On June 29,2007 I had bilateral mastectomies and tissue expanders were placed for further reconstruction. 7/07 had chemo port placed left chest and completed four rounds of chemo with Cytoxan and Taxotere on 10/5/07. Met with genetic counselor 11/2007. Had final phase of reconstructive surgery on 3/31/2008.

I am currently 47 years old and show no signs of recurrence and realize the risk of recurrence remains high with triple negative cancer for 10 years. I am a single Mom to three teens, age 17,16, and 13 and they have a 50/50 chance of inheriting this gene also. If positive for the BRCA 1 gene the boys will need to start prostate exams earlier and my daughter will have to do mammograms and pelvic ultrasound starting at age 20. All three will have a high risk for breast cancer if positive for the gene and men get breast cancer too.

I have a brother and sister out there somewhere who do not know my story and are also at risk. I wish I could reach out to them but would not know how to find them.