My Family Cancer History

When I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer...I truly was not totally surprised!  I had this "gut" feeling, yet it did hit me like a ton of bricks.  Some breast cancer patients have no family history and others are like me with an undeniably obvious family history.

Here is my families story.
My grandfather, Wade Henry Blevins discovered a lump in his breast.  It was diagnosed as cancerous and was removed.  No treatment followed because in the 1960's the rule was this: if the lump was removed and no outlying tissue had cancer cells then they "got it all".  My grandfather lived to the age of 69 and passed away from emphysema in March 1979.

My Aunt Dorthy, my grandfather's daughter and my mother's sister was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1977 at the age of 35.  Her story is all to common.  She had a lump and was sent to have a mammogram.  The tests were negative and no other tests were prescribed.  Three months later her breast was red, inflamed and her nipple inverted.  At this time she had a biopsy and was positive for breast cancer.  She had a radical mastectomy, underwent chemo therapy and radiation.  She was stage 4 at the time of her surgery, September 1977.  Thirteen months later, October 1978, Dorothy Lucille Blevins died at the age of 36.

My mother, Ramona Marie Blevins, was diagnosed with breast cancer May 1985 at the age of 46.  She had a lumpectomy and had no chemotherapy or radiation.  In the 1980's they still had the opinion that when the lump was removed and no tissue around the margins had any signs of cancer...you were considered "cancer free".  Almost 5 years to the day, my mother was diagnosed with a brain tumor.  The cancer metastasized.  She had to have brain surgery and the cancerous tissue removed.  My mother's cancer then further spread to her other vital organs and she passed away June 19, 1996 at the age of 57.

My Aunt, Marthetta, my grandfather's youngest daughter and my mother's sister, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of  52.  She had a mastectomy, chemo therapy and radiation.  She was later diagnosed with lung cancer (my cousin Wendy, Marthetta's daughter, says it was not related to the breast cancer).  My Aunt Marthetta Ruth Razza passed away January 29, 2005.

I am the third generation member of our family that has been diagnosed with breast cancer. I was 48 years old.  Ironically I had my biopsy 10 years to the day of my mothers death, June 19, 2006! 

My Grandfather: Wade Henry Blevins

My Mother: Ramona Marie Blevins
My Aunt: Marthetta Ruth Blevins Razza

Myself: Karen Marie Larid Pelley