My name’s Wendy, I haven’t had cancer but I had nine female relatives who had breast cancer

six of whom died from the disease.

I was always concerned that I would be the next person to get breast cancer

and I decided that I would like to have an elective mastectomy.

I was concerned that I would have inherited a gene that was obviously running through my family

and my doctor referred me to see a geneticist who explained it’s a 50/50 chance of inheriting the faulty gene

and if you inherit this fault, you have an 80-90% chance of developing breast cancer in your lifetime.

After I had the surgery I woke up and felt like the most privileged person in the world.

The relief was overwhelming.

When I had the genetic test I was obviously thinking about Becky,

my daughter, inheriting the fault as well

and hoping that I would be able to prepare her

for the possibility that she may have inherited a fault

and it’s one thing dealing with it for yourself

but it’s quite another dealing with it for your children.

I was around 11 years old when my mum decided to have a double preventative mastectomy.

I always knew I was always surrounded by breast cancer, in the fact that we had a faulty gene in the family.

It was only when I reached around 22 that my cousin was diagnosed with breast cancer at 28

that I realised maybe this is something I should be thinking of doing something about.

Whenever you go for a genetic test

they will always give you some form of counselling and it is very important.

When I went for the genetic counselling I was told that there are other options for me other than the surgery.

I could have regular scans, mammograms

and now we’ve got MRI.

There are various drugs that are being trialled all the time

tamoxifen and various others.

Usually your family history is discussed with you

you are given a risk assessment

and then you're told of all the options

and left to make the decision yourself

and I think that is really important, that you’re not pushed in any direction.

Before you undergo having a genetic test it’s important to know that you can handle the answer

because it’s not a piece of knowledge that you can unknow. Once you’ve been told it, that’s it.

Before you undergo the genetic test you have to think about the implications

to the wider family.

The implications to your children and brothers and sisters as well.

From the patient’s point of view it just appears to be a simple blood test

but it’s a complex process of unravelling the DNA and looking for various genes

and then looking for mutations in those genes.

With the genetic counselling they do recommend

that you’re put in touch with other support groups and other people that are in similar situations

and that is very important,

not just to answer the questions that they will have buzzing through their head

but also to have somebody that they can actually chat to that understands what they’re going through.

So, after all the counselling and after all the chats that I had

I went ahead and had the genetic test, which actually did tell me that I had

the BRCA 1 gene, which meant I had a very high risk of breast cancer

and a high risk of ovarian cancer as well.

To which then I weighed up all the pros and cons and looked at every option that was available to me

and I went ahead with the preventative double mastectomy two years later when I was 24

and I can honestly say I’ve never looked back since.

I managed to change the direction of what really was my fate

and feel amazing afterwards

and it was a huge feeling of euphoria.

If I was to have children I would hope that I would bring them up to know

everything about the situation and about the gene

for it not to be a taboo subject but for it not also to be made a big deal about

something that they grow up totally in the knowledge of

so that if actually does come to a point where they have to make a decision

then they will know all the options that are available to them.

Since I’ve had the genetic test and I’ve had the surgery

I have a completely liberated view on life

I live life absolutely fully and I know Becky does too

because you feel that you’ve been granted something that you hadn’t actually got

and I think I have a zest for life that some people envy sometimes.

For information, help, or if you just want to chat

call the Macmillan support line on 0808 808 00 00

or visit macmillan.org.uk