BRCA2 family healing 'MY GIRL HAŠ GIVEN US HOPE'

When Jody Bews-Hair last spoke to the Weekly a decade ago, she was adjusting to life after being diagnosed with the BRCA2 gene mutation.

-  Kasia De Vydt-Jillings

She had undergone a double mastectomy and had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. She was also grieving her sister Kerri, who found out too late she carried the gene to take preventative action.

Now she's facing it head-on all over again as her daughters Zoe, 19, and Emma, 18, who have a 50 percent chance of inheriting the gene, are old enough to be tested.

“We always said to them when they were younger, 'If you want to get tested, hopefully there'll be an injection or a pill you can take and you won't have to do anything more if you're positive,” shares Jody, 52.

“The most disappointing thing is that there haven't been that many advances – the main options are still quite drastic surgical interventions.”

For women, the BRCA gene mutation dramatically increases the likelihood of getting breast or ovarian cancer, and a preventative mastectomy and oophorectomy (ovary removal) is often recommended to reduce risk.

It's devastating to keep count of how many in Jody's family have lost their lives to cancer, including her sister, father, grandmother and uncles.