On January 11, 2011, Claudia Gilmore will undergo a preventative double mastectomy with reconstruction. The 23-year old does not have breast cancer, but has a genetic mutation that makes her more likely to develop cancerous cells in the future. She began writing a blog about life with the mutation several months ago. Eventually, the blog became a hot topic in DC, coming up in casual conversation after conversation.

Maureen Dolan-Galvaniz, a local film-maker and classmate of Claudia’s, heard about her previving blog and was fascinated. Wanting to not only tell the story, but spread the word about preventative options, Maureen began working on a documentary about Claudia’s journey to surgery.

Claudia has now appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal, The Today Show, and several other media outlets, spreading the message about previving. We were lucky enough to catch up with the producer/director of the webisodes, Maureen, and get a behind the scenes look into Previve.com and what previving is all about.

How did you first hear about Claudia’s decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy?
I was out one Saturday evening with girlfriends when they started talking about this Georgetown
girl that was cutting off her breasts and blogging about it! They thought what she was doing was totally crazy – I don’t think either fully understood the BRCA mutations. I had never heard of the BRCA mutation either. I was so intrigued that I started Googling ‘Georgetown girl cuts off breasts’ when I got home. Sure enough, I came across Claudia’s blog. Claudia and I had been colleagues at Georgetown, we had taken our first documentary production class together.

Why do you think Claudia’s story needs to be told?
Because it is incredible and inspiring and touches on so many big ethical health issues. Would you want to know if you had a genetic mutation? What would you do once you found out? Should we test our children? What is life like once you know that you have an increased risk for a deadly disease? Previvors blow my mind. They are some of the most inspiring, joyous people I have ever met. For example, Claudia is so thankful that she knows that she has this genetic mutation that she doesn’t waste any time worrying about what life would be like if she didn’t. She seizes every day and doesn’t dwell on her really unfortunate mutation. Read More »

Hannah Powell-Auslam is the youngest breast cancer patient doctors have ever seen. At only 10 years old, Hannah has recently undergone a mastectomy on her left breast to remove a malignant tumor.

Hannah’s mother noticed a lump on her daughter’s breast after she had complained and took her to get examined. The doctors initially told her that she was too young to have breast cancer, but the doctors were wrong.

In addition to having her breast removed, Hannah will have to undergo chemotherapy to kill cancer cells that spread to her lymph nodes. Because she never mentioned the lump to her mother before (what 10-year-old would ever know to do that?), Hannah’s cancer spread beyond the initial area.

While this is an incredibly rare situation, Hannah’s case is a reminder to all of us to check ourselves monthly and report anything strange or abnormal to a doctor. It may not be common, but breast cancer can affect anyone, regardless of their age, and the best way to beat it is to catch it early.

So, go. Step away from CollegeCandy (but don’t forget to come back!) and give yourself an exam. It only takes a moment and could really save your life.