I know something about this as my wife died of a cancer related to ovarian cancer and here familly had the BRCA1 gene and sadly breast and ovarian cancer has taken a lot of her familly.
I've recently found that my daughter does not have this gene!
Testing for the BRCA genes is getting a lot of focus because it's an area where there is a lot of research and publicity so you may find the path to getting tested for other genetic issues slightly more difficult but it still should be available
I would strongly suggest that you see your GP to investigate whether there is a genetic cause to your familly's cancer history, because if you do carry a genetic fault making you more susceptible you can start to think about routine testing to catch things early - one of the problems with somecancers like pancreatic is that they are often very advanced by the time they are discovered and early diagnosis makes a huge difference.
As an example to this a colleague at work's father went in for a routine operation and they discovered early pancreatic cancer coincidently, They were able to operate and he has been fine for many years
They will want to do councilling with you before conducting a test - you can't unlearn something like this but press for it and don't take No for an answer
Thank you I spoke to my g.p it was a joke she knew nothing. Told me to get my sister to ask her doctor what we should do. Think my sister got enough to worry about. She had another scan seeing her doctor next week so hoping for good news. My brother has days maybe week is so we really don't know. He in a hospice he's tired all the time. I sit with him and talk rubbish. He sleeps most of the time. He just gave up. I always looked up to him he's my big brother my hero. Well can't see much to many years. Thanks x x
I'm sorry to hear your bother's suffering and I know that you're thoughts are with him right now but I did a bit more digging about familly pancreatic cancer it looks like the University of Liverpool is the leading hospital in the UK now they're part of something called EUROPAC about people with familly history of pancreatic cancer.
The criteria is 2 or more first degree relatives (parent, child, brother or sister) with pancreatic cancer so you definitely qualify. They offer screening there but there are other centres around the country
You can e-mail them at europac@liverpool.ac.uk
I think you really ought to get in touch with them given your familly history they should be able to do a simple test and tell you if you are at risk yourself
Hi thanks for the links I emailed them see what they say. My brother passed away on Wednesday night so not good. Knew it was coming but still hurts. Not cried yet not sure what's wrong with me. Not all bad news my sister's cancer has got smaller. So fingers crossed it keeps going that way. Thanks for your help. Jane
