24 year old daughter of a mom who had BAC - 1271385

Sun, 10/04/2015 - 17:29

msmith40lbl

Posts:1

My wife passed in 2009 with mucinous BAC. She had been a smoker in her early life. We did not discover the cancer until it was Stage 4. She lived only 2.5 months. Looking back there were warning signs, as she was diagnosed with bronchitis and/or pneumonia several winters in a row - she was a school teacher.

My 24 year old has repeated bouts of nasal and respiratory problems requiring trips to the clinic and she gets on a Z pack and things clear up. But it seems to be regular, on going. She blames allergies, but has not seen an allergist. I do not want to unnecessarily alarm her, but am wondering if BAC (now called AIS?) is genetic, and if I should be concerned enough to have her looked at. If so, what specifically are we looking for?

Thanks,

- Mark

P.S. This site was great support system when my wife was sick in 2009. I can't log on under that ID any more because I've changed emails unfortunately.

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Reply # - October 5, 2015, 10:09 AM

Hi Mark,

catdander

Posts:

Hi Mark,

I can only imagine that you're very concerned about your daughter's health. We can't tell you how worried you should be instead just give you the information we have. The truth is it happens but it's quite rare. In our age of social media we can bring together those with very rare circumstances that can make possibilities look more likely. One question to ask yourself might be has there been others in your wife's family who died of lung cancer. 24 is extremely young to get lung cancer (~70 yrs old is average) and would be very rare. If drugs are helping symptoms then it's even more likely it's not cancer, cancer symptoms don't go away.

On the other hand testing for the gene can be done fairly easily, it’s good to know and can tell you not to worry or to keep a lookout for suspicious symptoms as well as point you and her in the right direction.

The following links have specific info on the subject and links to ways of being tested. http://www.lungcancerfoundation.org/2013/05/inherited-risk-mutation-for…

From Dr. Resta's blog post from 2008 the take home hasn't changed, "Bottom Line: If you have a relative with lung cancer, and you are not a smoker, the odds are very low that you will develop lung cancer." http://cancergrace.org/lung/2008/08/29/resta-genetic-risk-lung-ca/

I hope you are doing better/having more good time than not since you wife died. I don't know if you remember me from 09 but that's when my husband was diagnosed. He has been on the rare side of the tracks in the best of ways and is NED and 3 years without treatment.
I hope for the typical respiratory problems for you daughter and hope she is well. Please keep us posted on your and her decisions.

All best,
Janine

Reply # - October 8, 2015, 02:32 PM

I just looked into some

hammer

Posts: 36

I just looked into some screening options and my primary care doctor had me do a blood test called the EarlyCDT which supposedly detects proteins called autoantibodies that can be produced if lung cancer is present. It's a test done by Innovative Diagnostic Laboratory. You can do some research on it. I don't have a clue if it actually works. www.MyinnovativeLab.com. They plan to have me do it regularly to track levels.

It's different from a genetic test which could also be a good idea.

--Hammer

Reply # - October 9, 2015, 04:15 PM