Testing the Family Tree for Cancer

By Cassie Willis, Health Reporter

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By Cassie Willis

Story Created: Aug 28, 2006 at 4:33 PM CST

Story Updated: Aug 28, 2006 at 4:49 PM CST

CEDAR RAPIDS - Your family tree could hold clues to your future health.
Mercy Medical Center offers a new service that traces those roots. By studying your family's past, researchers can predict your family's future risk of cancer.

Genia Martinez is a 15-year survivor of breast cancer. "I am a survivor. I think I was born to be a survivor." Two of her sisters are survivors, too. But she's lost two aunts, two grandparents and one cousin to the disease. Now she's worried about the next generation. "We want to see where's it coming from? Who's the carrier? Who's not?" said Martinez.

The clues are in her bloods. Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Colleen Nemickas said, "If Genia's positive, she has a 50-percent chance of passing it on to her children. So either they'll get it or they won't. Once you don't have it, it stops there. They can't pass it on to their children."

Nemickas helped Martinez map out the breast cancer victims in her family. Then she took a blood sample and sent it to a genetics lab. The test results will help Martinez's three sons and her nieces and nephews learn more about their chances of passing it on.

Martinez said, "If you don't go out and get the testing, sooner or later, the cancer is going to devour you and you're going to die. It's about surviving... so you can live." In four to six weeks, Martinez will find out for sure.

Mercy Medical Center offers Genetics Counseling free of charge. But genetics testing can cost about $3,000. Nemickas says Medicare and most insurance policies will over that cost. Mercy offers Genetics Testing for ovarian, colon, uterine, skin and pancreatic cancers also.

You can also find this service at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

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