At age 28, Rochelle Shoretz had already completed a clerkship at the Supreme Court under Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and had two children. She had big plans of going back to her law practice and shooting for partner in a major law firm.
Then, while changing into a bathing suit in 2001, she noticed that one of her breasts had an unfamiliar indentation.
A doctor’s visit confirmed that the young mother had breast cancer and Shoretz’s world was tipped upside down in an instant.
“I was floored by the diagnosis,” she tells ABC’s Good Morning America.
“It happens--having breast cancer in your 20s,” Shoretz, tweeted from her Twitter account last August. Now in her 40s and a two-time breast cancer survivor, Shoretz is founder of Sharsheret, a nonprofit support and education group for young Jewish women facing breast cancer nationwide.
Back in 2001, things were less clear.
Faced with life-altering decisions she never expected she would have to make, Shoretz felt overwhelmed.
When Shoretz was faced with the difficult decision between undergoing a lumpectomy or mastectomy, her stepmother suggested she seek genetic counseling so she would know whether she had a greater risk for developing more cancer down the road.
She followed that advice.
Shoretz learned a breast and ovarian cancer genetic mutation known as the BRCA mutation is 10 times more common in Ashkenazi Jewish women than other women and at increased rates over those of Norwegian, Dutch, and Icelandic descent.
She knew that both of her grandparents died of cancer, but she couldn't go back any farther because so many of her family members died during World War II.
Going into her genetic counseling appointment Shoretz was “feeling empowered in some way that we’re going to get to the bottom of this," she said in the ABC interview. But instead she found “a cloud fogging the clarity” that she thought she would take away from that meeting.
"Instead there was just more mystery," she said.
Lacking the information she was desperately seeking, Shoretz found herself facing another difficult decision that face many Ashkenazi Jewish women. Asking about relatives killed in the Holocaust can be an overtly sensitive subject that will likely upset family members.
Although BRCA genetic testing isn't recommended for every woman, Shoretz chose to get the test anyway for her own peace of mind.
In families with cancer histories, it may be most informative to first test a family member who has breast or ovarian cancer, if she is willing to be tested, to identify whether or not the harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation is present.
If it is, then other family members may want to consider genetic counseling to learn more about their potential risks, according to the National Cancer Institute.
In the end, Shoretz decided to undergo a less-radical lumpectomy and chemo treatments after her test results came back negative.
Looking around the waiting room at her oncology office, she noticed there were not many young faces, and she longed for a group of her peers to reach out to for support and understanding. It was there that she created Sharsheret .
Like many young adult cancer patients, Shoretz had important health questions as she underwent treatment such as how chemo would impact breastfeeding future children, but found herself at the awkward intersection between pediatric and geriatric oncology.
To date Sharsheret - the Jewish word for “chain” - has responded to more than 25,000 breast cancer inquiries, involved 1,750 plus peer supporters, and presented over 250 educational programs and specialized support to all men, women and their families facing breast, ovarian cancer or at high risk of developing cancer.
When Shoretz's cancer later returned, this time as stage IV breast cancer for which there is no known cure, she underwent a double mastectomy and had other preventive surgeries. But she didn't have to make these decisions alone because she had the support chain she created.
"I was a part of the founding but I also see firsthand and witness firsthand the tremendous role we play in enhancing quality of life in the thousands of women we serve," she told ABC News. "That has been very rewarding."
Lynette Summerill is an award-winning writer and Scuba enthusiast who lives in San Diego with her husband and two beach loving dogs. In addition to writing about cancer-related issues for EmpowHER, her work has been seen in publications internationally.
Sources:
Sharheret. Sharsheret.org.
http://www.sharsheret.org
Women Founds Cancer Organization from Waiting Room. Sydney Lupkin, ABC Good Morning America. 1 October 2013.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/woman-founds-cancer-organization-waiting-room/story?id=20422965&singlePage=true
BRCA1 and BRCA2: Cancer risk and genetic testing. NCI. 5 Aug. 2013. Accessed 1 October 2013.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/BRCA
Reviewed October 9, 2013
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith