Mastectomy Before Breast Cancer: One Woman’s Choice-In a new book, TV writer Jessica Queller faces up to carrying the BRCA gene mutation By Beth Brophy
In a new memoir arriving in stores this month, television writer Jessica Queller (Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, Felicity, One Tree Hill) recounts her personal encounter with medical science. Four years ago, after watching her mother’s struggle with breast cancer and painful death from ovarian cancer, Queller, now 38, tested positive for the BRCA-1 gene mutation, known as the “breast cancer gene.” She faced these terror-producing statistics: an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer, a 44 percent chance of developing ovarian cancer—and the possibility of slashing both risks by 90 percent by choosing radical surgeries to remove her breasts and ovaries. Young, single, and hoping to get married and have children, Queller confronted excruciating life and death choices, detailed in Pretty Is What Changes: Impossible Choices, the Breast Cancer Gene, and How I Defied My Destiny (Spiegel & Grau). She spoke about them to U.S. News. Excerpts:
What is breast cancer? True life story Breast screening
You had a double mastectomy and have decided to get pregnant, through a sperm donor, and have your ovaries removed after you turn 40. How have people you know judged your decisions?