There are women across this country suffering – and yes, dying – from cancers that people don’t like to talk about and that doctors have a hard time diagnosing and treating. A recent Redbook article discusses what women should know about gynecological cancers and the stigma that still surrounds them. North Memorial Genetic Counselor Joy Larsen Haidle was quoted in the article and provided important information about BRCA 1 and 2 and family health history.
Rachel Banov Gould was just 30 years old when she had an abnormal Pap smear, and a series of tests revealed cancerous cells in her cervix. It was February 2011, and she was newly married; she and her husband, Ben, were excited to start a family. “At first, it felt like, This is terrible, but we can beat it,” says her sister, Jessica Banov, 41, of Raleigh, NC. After all, Rachel was the kind of girl who celebrated her birthday by taking trapeze lessons: She was tenacious and brave. And she never missed an ob/gyn visit. She took her health seriously…
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