Digital Issue: GENETICS

Digital download of the complete issue:

The GENETICS Issue, Feb / Mar 2019, Vol 4, No 1, 95 pages

I was struck while working on this issue what a family history of breast cancer does to a person at the end of that long line – or maybe not at the end, maybe looking down to their own children, wondering what they will face in their lifetimes. This issue was one of our most challenging to put together because these stories bring with them not just the survivors and fighters themselves, but also the grandmothers, aunts, mothers, sisters, dads... So much legacy, so many ghosts live between the lines of each story. I welcome those family members here – as well as the children of the authors of these stories. They, too, are here between the lines. It is a thick issue in more ways than physical.

Although we've always noted in the biographies when our contributors have been diagnosed with a genetic mutation such as BRCA1/2 or PALB2, with their breast cancer diagnosis, this is our very first issue digging deeply into what it means to have a genetic predisposition to breast cancer. Because of that, we've done something different with this issue: in addition to our regular young survivor & fighter stories, you'll find within these pages stories by our co-survivors: young women who have a genetic mutation that predisposes them to develop breast cancer, but do not have a personal history of cancer. These pieces we've labeled as “previvor” stories as that is the label these women have chosen for themselves. ~April

Cover model: Kelly Iverson

Contents:

Pink/Teal a poem by Alexandra Weiss | Diary of a Preventative Mastectomy by Susan Walton | Before Angelina Jolie by Karen Malkin Lazarovitz | Go Lightly, Go Flat by Jessica Sklar | I Removed My Breasts, Then I Removed My Implants by Amber Hutchinson | I Dedicate This Life to My Family by Andria Benavidez | Photo Story: SEX After BMX/PMX by Kelly Iverson | Inside a poem by Shar Schmidt | Call Us Mutant by Lisa Sucharski and Caroline E. Sucharski | From Mom I Got Strength, Led Zepplin and PALB2 by April Renn | Genetic Mutations and Family by Abigail Schroeder Johnston | My Story, My Way by Kaitlin Christine | Living with MBC: Tree of Odds by Ann Camden

PLUS: My Genes, My Body: Reader Stories | Do You Give Genetics Too Much Credit: Yoga | Dial Up the Flavor and Your Health: Nutrition | Toasty Spiced Roasted Potatoes: Recipe | Tell Your Story: Write From Your Scars, Not Your Wounds