Alison Dagul, who has experienced both breast and ovarian cancer, shares her story of finding out she has a BRCA gene alteration.
Here, Alison talks about living with a BRCA gene alteration and the impact it has had on her and her family – including her daughter Gaby who is at increased risk of both breast and ovarian cancer.
Since this video was produced, Alison has had radical ovarian de-bulking surgery – which meant removal of the bulk of the tumour on her ovaries by surgeon Prof. Christina Fotopoulou at Hammersmith Hospital. After the operation Alison suffered with a range of complications including sepsis and an extended stay in hospital. She has since had further chemotherapy (carboplatin) and has been on a parp-inhibitor (olaparib)- which is a targeted therapy specifically for BRCA alteration carriers to help further improve progression-free survival in those with recurrent platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer.
Below, Anthony Dagul, Alison’s husband, talks about his wife and daughter’s experience of living with BRCA gene alterations, and the impact that this has had on him and his family.
Their daughter, Gaby, found out she also has a BRCA gene alteration and is at a higher lifetime risk of both breast and ovarian cancer, she shares her story- the impact this has had on her life, and the future choices that she will have to make to ensure that she does not pass the alteration on to her children.