This blog will cover topics of interest that affect our community. Unless otherwise stated, the blog articles will be written by Sue Friedman, Executive Director of FORCE.
Note: This post, which originally was published on 1/1/15 has been updated and reposted on 12/31/16. New Year’s is always a nostalgic time for me. Tonight at just a few seconds after the stroke of midnight, FORCE and the community we have built will turn 18! In 1999, I founded FORCE, not because I made … + read more
By Amy Wu Caught amidst a tsunami of daily news stories, posts and news alerts – Facebook, Twitter, Buzzfeed, NPR, The New York Times, VICE, CNN, The Guardian and The Washington Post, where do I start? I click, I swipe, scroll and scan. Since the advent of the smartphone and the ease of the wireless … + read more
by Sue Friedman Members of our community who have already had genetic testing often ask for advice on how to speak about it to their relatives. Some common barriers to testing that we hear voiced by people are: concern over the cost of testing access to genetics experts family communication challenges With the holidays coming, … + read more
by Lisa Schlager The results of the 2016 election and the pending change in administration have triggered renewed focus on the future of healthcare. FORCE released an official statement on the election’s impact on the HBOC community and I hope to address additional issues here. The hereditary cancer community has good reason to be concerned. … + read more
by Sue Friedman FORCE’s KNOW MORE campaign helps women diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancers make informed decisions about genetic counseling and testing for inherited gene mutations. We launched a survey, which was completed by over 1,600 women with ovarian cancer. This blog continues our series on the survey results. We received over … + read more
By Rona Greenberg Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer is part of my family history. My grandmother, Rebecca, for whom I am named, died from breast/ovarian cancer in1934; my mother was ten years old. My mother died from the same cancer in 1967; I was nineteen years old with three younger sisters. In 1997, I was … + read more
by Lisa Rezende, PhD November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month. FORCE wants to raise awareness of the risk of pancreatic cancer in the hereditary cancer community. Pancreatic cancer is rare but BRCA carriers have a high risk, up to 5% compared to the 1.5% for the general population. Between BRCA carriers, the risk is higher … + read more
Guest blog by Heather H. Cheng, MD, PhD Researchers have long been aware that prostate cancer carries a substantial familial risk. New data (Robinson, et al Cell 2015) from the Stand Up To Cancer-Prostate Cancer Foundation International Dream Team collaborative group examined the genetic sequence of 150 tumors from men with advanced, hormone-resistant, metastatic prostate … + read more
Note: In honor of National Previvor Day, I’ve updated this blog post, which was initially published in 2008 but is still relevant today. by Sue Friedman Use of the term “previvor” has become common, which, in my opinion is good for our community. Since popularization of the term increases the chance that its meaning and … + read more
by Lisa Rezende and Alexandria Groves Over 20,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year. Women with mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2, and the genes associated with Lynch syndrome are at a much greater lifetime risk of ovarian cancer compared to women in the average population. Recent studies show that women … + read more
Over 20,000 women each year are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, affecting both those diagnosed and their loved ones. An integral aspect of our mission for the XRAYS (eXamining Relevance of Articles for Young Survivors) program is to inform our readers, specifically young survivors, with timely and accurate information to help them make sense of the … + read more
FORCE’s KNOW MORE campaign helps women diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer make informed decisions about genetic counseling and testing for inherited mutations. To better understand their information needs, we launched a survey for women with ovarian cancer. Over 1,600 women completed our survey. This blog continues our series on survey results. How … + read more
Our helpline offers peer support for people concerned about hereditary cancer. All calls are confidential. Call any time.
FORCE has outreach groups throughout the United States and in Essex, United Kingdom that meet periodically to offer peer support, and share resources.
