HEREDITARY
When the Monster Is Hiding in Your Bloodline
FUCK THE PINK RIBBON.
It’s October. The pumpkins are out, the horror movies are playing, and apparently EVERYTHING has turned pink.
Welcome to Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
But as a two-time breast cancer survivor, Krystal with a K has a slightly different question:
WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE ACTUALLY AWARE OF?
Because sometimes the scariest part of cancer isn’t the diagnosis. It’s discovering what might already be hiding in your DNA.
At 37, Marissa was a wife and mom of two kids under five when stomach issues and blood in her stool led to three words nobody expects that young:
YOU HAVE CANCER.
Colon cancer.
Unfortunately... that was just the opening scene.
Genetic testing sent Marissa down a rabbit hole of hereditary cancer risks, unexpected family connections, and decisions she never imagined making. Her father had died from pancreatic cancer. Suddenly, she was reopening that grief and looking at her family history through an entirely different lens.
The skeletons weren’t hiding in the closet.
They might be hiding in the chromosomes.
SURPRISE! YOU’RE A MUTANT.
Technically, we’re talking about inherited pathogenic genetic variants.
But MUTANT sounds cooler.
Unfortunately, these particular mutations don’t come with superpowers. No flying. No telekinesis. Just increased cancer risks, medical appointments, impossible decisions, and a rapidly expanding vocabulary of words ending in “-ectomy.”
Shitty superhero origin story.
BRCA1 and BRCA2 are genes that normally help repair damaged DNA. Everyone has them, but inherited harmful variants can dramatically increase the risk of certain cancers.
Dad’s side counts.
That matters because BRCA variants aren’t only connected to breast cancer. They’re also associated with ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, and male breast cancers.
For women with harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 variants, lifetime breast cancer risk is over 60%, compared with roughly 13% in the general female population.
Ovarian cancer risk is approximately 39–58% with BRCA1 and 13–29% with BRCA2, compared with roughly 1% in the general population.
Pancreatic cancer risk may reach about 5% with BRCA1 and 5–10% with BRCA2. BRCA variants can also significantly increase prostate and male breast cancer risk.
Those numbers are population estimates, not individual predictions. Your specific variant, family history, age, and other factors matter.
And BRCA isn’t the only hereditary cancer story.
Other inherited syndromes and genes can increase the risk of colorectal, uterine, pancreatic, breast, ovarian, and other cancers. Lynch syndrome, for example, is strongly associated with colorectal and endometrial cancers.
Translation: genetic testing can uncover a hell of a lot more than BRCA.
THE NEXT SACRIFICE
For Marissa, learning about her hereditary cancer risks meant confronting another possibility:
BREAST CANCER.
Not because she had it.
Because she might GET it.
Before ever hearing YOU HAVE BREAST CANCER, she was facing the possibility of removing healthy breasts before cancer had the chance to make them the next sacrifice.
Preventative double mastectomy.
Prophylactic surgery.
Hysterectomy.
So. Many. Fucking. Ectomies.
People sometimes talk about preventative surgery like it’s an easy choice because “at least you don’t have cancer.”
Except there’s nothing easy about sacrificing healthy parts of your body because your DNA handed you shitty odds.
There’s surgery. Recovery. Body-image changes. Fear. Grief. Motherhood. And the mindfuck of making permanent decisions about a disease you may never actually develop.
Risk-reducing surgery can dramatically lower certain cancer risks, but it doesn’t eliminate all risk. Screening, surgery, and prevention decisions are deeply personal and should be made with qualified medical and genetic professionals.
BREAKING THE CURSE
Marissa could have let everything she endured become the end of the story.
Instead, she turned it into advocacy.
She now uses her experience to educate others about hereditary cancer, genetic testing, family history, and asking questions BEFORE another family member becomes the next plot twist.
Because none of us gets to choose the DNA we inherit.
But knowing what’s hiding in it can change what happens next.
KNOW YOUR FAMILY HISTORY. IT COULD SAVE YOUR ASS.
Ask questions.
Which cancers run in your family? Who had them? How old were they when diagnosed?
And for the love of genetics,
ASK ABOUT DAD’S SIDE TOO.
If your personal or family cancer history raises concerns, talk with a healthcare provider or genetic counselor about whether genetic testing may be appropriate.
The point isn’t to become terrified of your family tree.
It’s to know whether one of the branches is trying to kill you.
MARISSA + HEREDITARY CANCER RESOURCES
BRCA and Beyond — Marissa’s platform for hereditary cancer awareness, education, advocacy, and her own experience.
Instagram: @MarisStache + @BRCAandBeyond
Colorectal Cancer Alliance — Screening information, education, patient navigation, support, and resources for colorectal cancer patients and families.
Fight Colorectal Cancer — Education, advocacy, research information, treatment resources, and patient/caregiver support.
BRCA Strong — Support and community for people affected by hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk.
FORCE — Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered — Hereditary cancer education, genetic testing information, peer support, research, screening, and risk-reduction resources.
NCCN — Evidence-based guidelines and patient information covering hereditary cancer risk, screening, prevention, and treatment.
FUCK THE PINK RIBBON... KIND OF.
Wear the pink.
Buy the shirt.
Check your boobs.
But Breast Cancer Awareness Month needs to be about more than a color.
Talk about genetics.
Talk about family history.
Talk about the risks, choices, surgeries, sacrifices, and people making life-changing decisions before cancer ever gets the chance to show up.
Because sometimes the monster isn’t hiding under your bed.
IT’S HIDING IN YOUR BLOODLINE.
And knowing it’s there might just change the ending.
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