That tricky gene

On a routine visit to my gynecologist, he asks if I have had gene testing done. It's not something that I take lightly - I suspect we do carry the BRCA-1 gene. To do the test, I will have to fly to Miami and undergo genetic counselling. It sounds trivial to say that so many other things seem like a priority at the moment. That is until I came across this article about the first baby that will be born free of this gene.

U.K. woman conceives breast cancer gene-free baby
Updated Mon. Jun. 30 2008 11:22 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A British woman is 14 weeks pregnant after conceiving the country's first baby guaranteed to be free of a hereditary breast cancer, doctors have revealed.

The unidentified woman and her husband underwent in vitro fertilization to screen 11 embryos for the presence of one gene, BRCA-1.

The woman is now 14 weeks pregnant with her first child.

Women who carry either the BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene have a 50 to 80 percent chance of developing breast cancer.

The 27-year-old woman and her 28-year-old husband, who remain anonymous, decided to go through the invasive in vitro fertilization procedure in order to produce embryos that could be genetically screened.

I will have this test done. If not for myself, then for my daughter. She is not physically like me and I pray that she's won the genetic lottery in this case. But unless I test, we'll never know if she potentially carries the gene as well. Even if I am negative, it is something that I will encourage her to be aware of with regard to her own health as an adult.

I'm filling my bra with hope

I would run to the moon just to see my mother one more time.