29-year-old makes big decision after testing for cancer gene

Lisa Edwards watched her grandmother, mother and two aunts fight breast cancer. She figured it was only a matter of time before it was her turn.

Rather than wait to become a statistic, Edwards decided to take action. Today, the 29-year-old Ahwatukee mother of two will have a double mastectomy at Banner Desert Samaritan Hospital in Mesa. The surgery will drop her lifetime breast-cancer risk to 3 percent, from 85 percent, she said.

"When my mom (who survived) had cancer 10 years ago, I had heard people were doing this (preventive mastectomies) and I thought that's what I would do," she said.

That decade-old decision, however, was one Edwards hoped she'd never have to act upon. But in March, genetic tests revealed she has the same breast-cancer gene, BRCA, that triggered her mother's cancer. Two of her three maternal aunts are two-time breast cancer survivors but haven't been tested for the genetic mutation.

According to the National Cancer Institute, offspring of carriers have a 50 percent chance of inheriting the gene, which also increases a woman's chances of ovarian cancer and boosts a man's risk of prostate cancer.

"I have, of course, been living my whole life with the understanding that it wasn't a matter of if but when. Even so, it hit me like a ton of bricks," she said of learning she had the gene. "It was the realization that my worst fear was confirmed."

Edwards wasted no time confronting the fact that "to live a nice long, strong life for my children," she had to act quickly and decisively.

"With as scary as this disease is, I don't want to take the gamble waiting for cancer to strike," she said. "Knowledge is power and I felt having the information empowered me to take control. I know I'm making the right decision."

She said her husband, Kevin, and her mother support her decision and have pledged to help with her recovery and the long breast-reconstruction process.

Her daughters, Megan, 5, and Allie, 1, have pitched in with some much-appreciated levity.

"I was talking to Megan and I said, 'Mommy has to have surgery. My (breasts) have an owie and they're not going to be there anymore,' " Edwards said.

Megan, looking surprised said, "You mean they fall off?" recalled Edwards, whose upbeat pragmatism has had a calming effect on her family.

"At the end of the day, they're just breasts. It's not like I'm losing an arm."

Lisa Edwards cuddles with daughters Megan, 5, and Allie, 1, before her scheduled double-mastectomy to prevent breast cancer.