Word: burkhardt
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...most women, the notion of undergoing a mastectomy in order to prevent breast cancer smacks of wild paranoia. But for Maria Burkhardt of Covington, La., the unthinkable slowly became the inevitable. Twenty years ago, an aunt was stricken with the disease. Her mother died from it a decade later. In 1986 Maria's younger sister Jo Ann began fighting for her life. Next her older sister Rose developed an aggressive tumor. Maria consulted a doctor and was told she was "a ticking time bomb." Ominously, her tissues were judged too dense for mammograms to scan reliably...
Families like Maria Burkhardt's are rare, accounting for a tiny fraction of breast-cancer cases. But the malevolent genes they pass down through the generations are beginning to yield important clues to all breast malignancies. "Cancer," declares celebrated molecular biologist James D. Watson, "is a disease of the DNA," the master molecule that encodes the genetic blueprint for every living cell. Tumors develop as the result of rearrangements in DNA, specifically in the genes that govern cell growth...
...most cases, the changes that lead to breast cancer begin accumulating after birth, perhaps triggered by some set of environmental stresses, whether random cosmic rays or a dietary factor. Some women, however, start out with the genetic deck stacked against them. Like Burkhardt and her sisters, they stand a greater risk of developing breast cancer, in both breasts and at an earlier age, than other women...
...Burkhardt said the dean's letter would probably not have much effect on reducing harassment, but added that it was an important gesture...
...served to inform students that this was happening," Burkhardt said. But she added that, "If someone feels that strongly about it, I don't think this letter by Dean Vorenberg will help much...