Hello there

I am sorry to hear about losing both your mam and grandad to cancer. It sounds like your mum had laryngeal cancer that affects the voice box that you can read more about here.

When cancer is in the family, people often assume that this greatly increases their risk of developing it, but this isn't necessarily so. Although the genes we inherit may influence our risk, this may not be by very much. No one is risk free and the risk of cancer increases for all of us as we get older. This is quite a complicated topic and it might be useful to look at our section explaining genes and inherited cancer risk at this link.

Cancer is described as a genetic disease because it is caused by mistakes or faults in the genes of in a single cell. But in most cases of cancer, these gene faults develop over someone's lifetime and are not inherited. Faulty cancer genes can be passed from one generation to the next, but they are uncommon.

The risk of laryngeal cancer is thought to be increased with a family history, but this might not be by enough to warrant genetic testing or additional screening. This is something that your GP can advise you about so do discuss it with them when you have the chance.

I hope this is helpful.

Best wishes

Naomi