![]() ![]() Silverstein’s team of physicians helped her understand her test results and her options, including increased screening and preventive treatment measures.īy identifying cancer patterns in a family and the use of genetic testing, genetic counselors at the UNC Cancer Genetics Clinic can help empower patients and their families to make decisions that best fit their lifestyle and goals – whether that means pursuing preventive treatment, additional screening or finding increased support. ![]() It put me in the driver’s seat of my destiny.” Thankful for access and knowledge “But what I didn’t know, and what I found out after I got tested, was the amount of clarity and control it gave me. “I thought it would put this huge cloud over my head, and it would stress me out to no end,” Silverstein said of testing. Based on those results, and her family history, experts at the clinic informed her she had high lifetime cancer risks – up to 80 percent for breast cancer, and up to 50 percent for ovarian cancer. ![]() The genetic testing revealed she was positive for a BRCA1 mutation. ![]() While she had a family history of breast cancer, it was an inconclusive mammogram that led her to get genetic testing at the UNC Cancer Genetics Clinic. She is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, an ethnicity that has a higher risk of genetic mutations linked to breast and ovarian cancer. Silverstein, 42, took those steps after learning she was at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. 3, 2015, and a Salpingo-oophorectomy to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes the following year. She decided to have a bilateral mastectomy on Feb. Beth Silverstein (right) with her mother Leslie.Īfter consulting with an interdisciplinary team of “angel doctors” from the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Charlotte resident made a series of health decisions that changed her life. Beth Silverstein is celebrating five years since she took charge of her destiny. ![]()
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