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+ | To be a model you first have to win the genetic lottery, Jade Power acknowledges. | ||
+ | The former beauty queen has had a successful career thanks largely to her 5ft 10in frame, endless legs, show-stopping hair and DD bust. | ||
+ | ‘My mum did pass on some great things to me. I was definitely blessed,' | ||
+ | Her two older sisters, Donna and Claire, didn't get the height, but they, too, got the shapely figures and great hair. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘The hair was our thing,' | ||
+ | Note the use of ‘was' | ||
+ | (Image: [[|]]) | ||
+ | |||
+ | Lingerie model Jade has the cancer gene and has opted for a double mastectomy even though she is healthy. Claire is cancer free and does not have the gene but is racked with guilt | ||
+ | Jade's glorious bust? It's no longer the real deal, but a reconstruction completed after she had both breasts removed. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Vivid scars run across her chest. | ||
+ | On talking to them you quickly realise all three sisters have been scarred, in very different ways, by a genetic quirk which came to light only after Donna was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020. | ||
+ | Genetic testing revealed she was carrying a gene called PALB2, which increases the chance of developing breast (and, to a lesser extent ovarian cancer). | ||
+ | |||
+ | If she had the gene, doctors explained, there was a 50/50 chance her siblings would have it, too. | ||
+ | And so as Donna recovered from surgery (in the form of a lumpectomy) and chemotherapy, | ||
+ | Jade likens it to ‘a horrible game of roulette' | ||
+ | Their mum was found to be a carrier although she has never developed breast cancer; Claire, the eldest at 44, was negative. | ||
+ | But Jade, the baby of the family, was given the devastating news that she had a 71pc chance of developing breast cancer. | ||
+ | The genetic test was like a horrible game of roulette ‘With odds like that, in my mind it was a case of " | ||
+ | Overnight, Jade says her relationship with her breasts changed. | ||
+ | ‘I always thought mine were my best assets,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘They got me swimwear work, too. But the minute I was told I had the gene, I looked in the mirror and I didn't see nice breasts — I saw these things that were going to kill me. | ||
+ | ‘I had no doubts what I had to do. Any other concerns just didn't compare.' | ||
+ | For a professional model? | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘It was a huge decision,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘But worries about the impact on modelling pale into insignificance compared with fears about my life and health.' | ||
+ | So last year, Jade — by then a new mother to baby Zander — underwent a double mastectomy, removing healthy breasts ‘before they had a chance to be a threat to my life and leave my son without a mother' | ||
+ | This week she was in the news vowing to return to modelling, even the lingerie side of the business, to show ‘that women can still be sexy even after a mastectomy' | ||
+ | Her great inspiration is Hollywood actress and activist Angelina Jolie, who changed the narrative around elective mastectomies after she discovered she was carrying the more common BRCA1 gene and had a double mastectomy and hysterectomy. | ||
+ | Now the sisters have launched a campaign calling for more awareness of genetic mutations linked to breast cancer, and access to genetic testing. | ||
+ | Jade accurately describes their family story as ‘quite a hard one to get your head around' | ||
+ | ‘It' | ||
+ | (Image: [[|]]) | ||
+ | ‘She' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Yet I was the one who was offered and embryo screening if I wanted to get pregnant — to ensure the gene wasn't passed on.' | ||
+ | The three sisters — clearly all very close — perfectly illustrate the havoc a genetic mutation can wreak in a family. | ||
+ | It may seem that Claire has ‘escaped' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Not so. | ||
+ | ‘I was the one who got the news I wasn't a carrier, but how could I celebrate? How could I say to my sisters: "Well, it's good news for me!"' | ||
+ | Their mum, too, has felt guilty. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘She was devastated knowing she'd passed it on,' says Donna. | ||
+ | Scientists discovered the PALB2 gene only in 2006, so little is known about it. However, they do know that it can be carried by men, too. | ||
+ | Donna had to write to her extended family members — about ten in all — gently explaining that they might want to consider tests. | ||
+ | ‘We have a brother but he chose not to be tested because he has a son,' she says. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘If he had a daughter I think it would have been different. | ||
+ | ‘We told all our cousins — even the distant ones. The ripples are something you just never consider ...until you have to.' | ||
+ | It was in 2020 that the thunderbolt hit. | ||
+ | Donna, then single and a healthcare business consultant, found a lump in her breast and immediately made an appointment at a private clinic for a scan. | ||
+ | ‘I had private health insurance and I just thought: " | ||
+ | The face of the lady who did the scan told her she wasn' | ||
+ | ‘She said there and then that she was pretty sure it was breast cancer, but I'd have to have a formal diagnosis. | ||
+ | |||
+ | I went back to my parents' | ||
+ | That was on a Friday and by the Monday Donna had undergone a biopsy and was on the route to surgery and chemotherapy. She moved back in with her parents during her treatment. | ||
+ | Claire, who was also single and running her own marketing company, did the same. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The whole family rallied. Dad Tyrone drove Donna to her hospital appointments and waited while she had chemo; mum Gloria and Claire did the bulk of the nursing at home. | ||
+ | ‘It was hellish,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | I was very sick and weak. They had to reduce the dosage, but there were moments when we really didn't think I was going to make it.' | ||
+ | When someone in their 30s is diagnosed with breast cancer, family history becomes hugely important. | ||
+ | They discovered, only then, that their mother' | ||
+ | Donna asked for genetic testing, but ‘I still didn't expect anything significant to come back' | ||
+ | When it did, she was floored. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘I remember having to tell my sisters: "I am so, so sorry but there is a 50per cent chance that you could have this gene, too." ' | ||
+ | Their mum's blood test results were the first to come back — and they were positive. | ||
+ | ‘This meant we knew the issue was on her side of the family,' | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘She was racked with guilt. It was just the luck of the draw that she hadn't developed cancer. | ||
+ | ‘She' | ||
+ | |||
+ | Claire' | ||
+ | ‘Just my luck!' Jade half-jokes. ‘I knew it would be. Donna and I have always been so similar — apart from the height.' | ||
+ | When Donna was diagnosed, her treatment options were straightforward and driven by the immediate need to save her life. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Jade, however, had a very different decision to make. | ||
+ | ‘There were two options: surveillance, | ||
+ | What a choice. | ||
+ | But the right course of action quickly became clear to Jade. | ||
+ | ‘Every time I looked at my breasts, I thought " | ||
+ | There was another complication. Jade, in a long-term relationship, | ||
+ | |||
+ | She was warned that the gene could be passed to either a son or daughter, but the consequences for a girl would obviously be more significant. | ||
+ | Every time I looked at my breasts I thought: timebomb She was offered IVF with gene therapy, which meant the mutant gene would be removed at the laboratory stage. | ||
+ | ‘I talked about it with my partner, but I was really uncomfortable with that idea,' she says. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ‘I did want a baby — but I wanted nature to take its course.' | ||
+ | But while Jade was still agonising about what to do, she discovered she was pregnant — which changed everything. All decisions about future surgery would have to go on hold. | ||
+ | Baby Zander was born in October 2021, his sex bringing a certain relief, though ‘he could still have the gene — we won't know until he is 18'. | ||
+ | But even as she was breastfeeding, | ||
+ | ‘I still wanted the surgery, so I saw being able to breastfeed him as a gift. | ||
+ | |||
+ | If I have any more children I won't be able to.' | ||
+ | She fed Zander for only two months ‘because my consultant advised that my milk flow needed to have stopped before he would operate', | ||
+ | He needed me alive.' | ||
+ | By August 2022, Jade was ready. She'd spent months researching reconstructive breast surgery. The publicity surrounding Angelina Jolie' | ||
+ | What of her partner? | ||
+ | |||
+ | If you have any inquiries relating to where and the best ways to utilize [[https:// | ||
+ | She had the reconstruction done at the same time as the surgery to remove her breasts. | ||
+ | Now, Jade feels a weight has been taken off her shoulders. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But her scars will only fade so much. | ||
+ | ‘I still don't know if I'll ever get back to my job, but I hope so,' she says. ‘I think there has been a move towards models who reflect real life. Women in real life have curves, flaws, scars. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It's part of who we are. I'm proud of mine.' | ||
+ | Would her sisters have taken the [[https:// | ||
+ | |||
+ | It may be something to think about in the future' | ||
+ | However, they have both supported Jade's decision. | ||
+ | ‘She' | ||
+ | The sisters' | ||
+ | |||
+ | On World Cancer Day earlier this month, they released a video talking about their work with the NHS. | ||
+ | [[https:// | ||