For 30-year-old Candace Frederick, time with family is now more precious than ever.
Two years ago, her life took a dramatic turn when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I had this sharp pain in my left armpit, but it would come and go," Frederick recalled.
Additional symptoms, including nipple bleeding, prompted a biopsy that revealed ductal carcinoma in situ, a stage 0 form of breast cancer. Initially, doctors planned a simple lumpectomy, but genetic testing changed everything.
Tammy Adar, manager of the Genetic Counselor Program at Memorial Hospital, explained that recent advancements in genetic testing now allow testing of 50 to 80 genes simultaneously, including 12 specific to breast cancer, at a much lower cost.
