European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Living with the legacy of breast cancer Terri Gianetti 36, right end her sister Layne Hovey 35, have chosen Radical preventive surgery to avoid the cancer that struck their Mother grandmother and great grandmother. Two Sisters choose preventive surgery by Tad Bartimus the associated press in the end the decision was easy. After watching her Mother struggle against breast cancer for 17 years knowing that her grandmother great grandmother and four great aunts All had died of the disease Terri Giannetti a 36 years old married and childless a had her two healthy breasts Cut off she also had her ovaries and uterus removed during those seven hours of surgery last september in Boulder Colo. Gone forever is her Chance to give birth. But so too is what she believed were the mortal threats of breast ovarian and uterine cancer Quot i was sure i would get it and now i have a huge sense of Relief Quot she said. Quot when you Are going through such a traumatic decision you have to have something to look Forward to. So i looked Forward to getting healthy and staying  statistically one in nine women will develop breast cancer and experts say a family history of the disease Points to increased incidence in later generations. Doctors now report a growing phenomenon although exact numbers Aren t available with the Odds stacked against them More and More women who have watched relatives succumb Are choosing to have healthy breasts and reproductive organs removed. Quot i d spent almost a year researching the Odds talking to doctors three oncologists and five surgeons a and i knew in my heart it was the right thing to do a Terri said now its her Sisters turn. Soon Layne Hovey a 35 years old married the Mother of a Young son a also will enter the Hospital and have her healthy breasts ovaries and uterus removed. Like her sister she believes her family s terrible history of breast and ovarian cancer soon will catch up with her trap her in its lethal genetic web. Neither woman has treated her decision lightly or failed to seek As much professional expertise As possible. Armed with a color coded family tree dating Back four generations Terri Layne and their sister Wendy a single 31 years old a made the rounds of specialists in Boulder and Denver seeking advice. Quot we d walk in with our Chart and the doctors would Start nodding saying yes yes a and we knew we had their attention Quot Layne said or. Russell Talley director of the breast clinic of the University of Colorado health sciences Center took their Case to a panel of 35 physicians who sit on University Hospital s breast Board. Quot the Board highly recommended we consider prophylactic mastectomies Quot Layne said. Quot doctors never Tell you what to do they just suggest options but we could read Between the  scientists Are convinced that some women Are born with a greater risk of getting breast cancer and at an earlier age than other women. They also know that breast cancer travels through generations in some families nearly wiping out whole clans of female relatives. What they Don t know is Why there is no medical test to determine if a woman is predisposed toward breast cancer the Only Way to find out is to carefully track her health and if she is diagnosed treat the disease Early. By the time a woman is Able to feel a Lump in her breast chances Are it has been growing for up to 10 years. Mammography can reveal a Lump Long before women or their doctors can feel it and aggressive Early treatment Means better survival Odds. Or. David Goldar a genetic epidemiologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City is optimistic that researchers like his team will develop a diagnostic test for familial breast cancer within five years. Research is zeroing in on a particular growth enhancing Gene he said. Quot you May need two or three hits to develop a malignancy but if your Are born with the first hit then maybe your lifetime risk will go from 10 percent to 80 percent or even higher if you inherited this Gene Quot Goldar said. Until there is a diagnostic test the Only thing Quot High risk Quot women can do a Short of preventive removal a is to Monitor their health and wait for the cancer to show up if it Ever does. Terri Layne and Wendy All kept coming Back to that family tree with its slashes of yellow magic Marker highlighting the names of All those dead women from the past. Their Mother was the most vivid example of what happens when breast cancer strikes. Alma Hovey of Harbor Springs mich., was diagnosed in 1974, had a Mastectomy and went on with her Busy life. Six years later she found a swollen Node in her neck a the cancer had returned. She insisted doctors remove her ovaries because she was afraid the disease would spread there too. Now there Are tutors on her sternum and elsewhere. Our Mother is very spiritual and she has a great Deal of inner strength so we have watched her trying very hard not to let this interfere with her life Quot said Layne. Layness gynaecologist in Boulder was the first physician to raise the Issue of preventive surgery. When she asked me a year ago if i had done any Reading about familial cancer my initial reaction was to laugh Layne said. Quot Here i was chasing around a 3-year-old, juggling husband and Job and child worried about my Mother and just going along from Day to Day but then we All talked about it and we started the rounds of doctors. All but one of them recommended we consider having surgery before we got  for months the Sisters talked about Little else arguing vacillating Quot changing our minds constantly Quot said Terri. They also discussed it with their Mother. She told us that if she had known then what she knows now she would have done it Terri said. / Page 14 a the stars and stripes tues i