Hi, Ruth and Dorothy! There is no leukemia in our family...Father had 7 brothers, and Mother is 97 yr old and the last survivor of 12 children, so that is a pretty broad spectrum. Angie
What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.... Angie --- On Wed, 8/31/11, Dorothy Emery <[email protected]> wrote: From: Dorothy Emery <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [CMLHope] leukemia & heredity To: [email protected] Date: Wednesday, August 31, 2011, 8:34 PM Hi Ruth, I think there are still a lot of unknowns on whether or not there is some genetic component to risk for blood cancers. I talked with a researcher a few years ago that was looking at families with CLL and there is some connection with that leukemia--CLL itself does have family clusters--but he said he had not seen an association with CLL and CML in the same family. He also said he wasn't studying that so it could be possible. My father had CLL as well and my niece died of ALL. I went to an LLS board meeting this week and we had a woman guest who lost all three of her grown children to AML in a 2 year period. Her children were 36, 32, and 22 and all were diagnosed and died within a 2 year span from 2004 to 2006. It is truly a horrible story. She has not recovered and I wonder if she ever will. She still appears to be in shock. She said no one has come to her to ask for a dna sample so they could study this case--and she seemed angry that no one seemed interested enough in doing this research. I understood her anger and frustration, but I also know that funding for research is limited and most researchers are too busy looking for cures and treatments. There are a limited number of researchers and every topic can't possibly get studied immediately. I'm sure someone will eventually figure out whether or not there is some genetic marker that makes families prone to blood cancers. Hope you are doing well! Best wishes, Dorothy On Aug 30, 2011, at 11:48 PM, marcon wrote: > After I read the replies from Pat Elliott and Suzie Q I > realized I needed to clarify my reason for going to a > geneticist. It wasn't because of the family history of > leukemia, but because of breast cancer history. My sister > had breast cancer. I had the test for BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 , > and the result was negative. As I recall, the geneticist > was interested only in the medical history of my parents and > siblings. Aunts, uncles, and cousins didn't seem to matter. > I think I had this test about 3 yrs. ago. (About 4 years ago > I joined The Sister Study. The study follows the sister of a > sister who had breast cancer. It's a 10-year study, partly > government funded. The study is a questionnaire that asks > for medical history, and health, exercise, and dietary > habits. The questionnaire is updated periodically.) > > Re the interview on Patient Power, I'll be sure to watch it > myself. And I will pass it along to my brother. When 1st > diagnosed he said he didn't want to read anything about > MGUS. Whatever the dr. told him was enough. Now, about 6 > months after dx, he is receptive to new information about > MGUS and myeloma. > > So thank you, Pat, and thank you, Suzie Q, for your help and > understanding. My best to you, > > Ruth Marcon > > -- -- [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -- [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope
