Marjorie Gallece knows breast cancer.
"We've all been there before. We're all survivors," she said.
She's a patient navigator for the Breast Cancer Resource Center.
"Sometimes, we're in the room when they get the diagnosis. Sometimes, they call us," she said.
Lately she hasn't been getting calls from only newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.
"It's surprising," she said. "I get calls all the time from relatives of women who've been diagnosed, or daughters or friends and their first fear is that 'okay, my mom had breast cancer' and they have this impression that, now it's a given."
Advances with the genetic test have made women who test positive for a breast cancer gene feel like it's a given.
"I have held women while they cried, when they learned they had that positive mutation. They've been very stoic in the doctor's office but, they get out of the doctor's office and begin to ponder it more and just totally fall apart," she said.
Fear and guilt are just some of the psychosocial issues that come along with taking the genetic test.
"Worrying about family members, whether it's your child, [your] sister [or] your brother, we definitely talk about those things. It even becomes an issue for women who have not had children yet. What do I do now? Does this change my thinking about wanting to have children or does it not," genetic counselor, Gayle Simpson Patel, said.
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Psychosocial Issues
News 8's Crestina Chavez shares why genetic tests mean more than just their results.
 
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Reducing your risk means removing your ovaries and your breasts as the most extreme measure. It's a decision that impacts your entire family.
"I think it's really important for people to be really open and honest with their families that they're undergoing genetic testing, and that something may be revealed that places other family members at risk," Patel said.
In Gallece's experience, she's found that the genetic testing has torn families apart.
"There is a lot of fallout that happens, especially in families," she said. "We have sisters that don't speak, relatives that do not speak because someone was tested and decided to tell the whole family."
Marjorie surprised herself with her reaction to getting that positive result.
"What you know in your head, the whole heart thing is another. You still feel like, oh, did I pass some horrible legacy onto my child? And, as it turns out, she [her daughter] did not inherit that mutation from me," she said.
Women united by a small blemish in their DNA that leads to huge consequences.
"I think it helps to know there are other women out there who share this experience, and there's someone like you who is reacting just like you did. You don't go through it alone."
