AUSTIN, Texas —
Three generations of women in one family each have their own journey with breast cancer. They hope that by sharing their stories, they can help others.
The family members hope to inspire women to get genetic testing and pay close attention to their family history.
The American Cancer Society recommends women begin screening breast cancer at 40 years old. But as this family knows, breast cancer can happen sooner than you think.
When Hattie Sherman was 27, she found a Tootsie Roll-sized lump in her chest.
"Younger women have – it's very common to find a lump in your chest. Their breast tissue is more dense," Hattie Sherman said. "I really didn't think that we had a reason to be worried."
It turned out, the lump was something to worry about: triple negative Stage 0 breast cancer.
"I think hearing that it was cancer is when kind of the ball dropped for me," Hattie Sherman said.
She had experience with it. Her grandmother had breast cancer. And when she was in high school, her mother, Molly Sherman, was diagnosed and had a double mastectomy.
When she was diagnosed, Hattie Sherman also got a double mastectomy, performed at St. David's Medical Center.
"It was hard to watch. But also, it was something we knew we could do because we'd done it before," Molly Sherman said.
After her cancer, Molly Sherman got generic testing. She had a mutation on her BRCA 1 gene, but not one linked to cancer.
"They found a mutation of undetermined significance, and they said '90% of those mean nothing. So you don't have anything to worry,'" Molly Sherman said.
After multiple women in their family got breast cancer, all with the same mutation, they noticed a pattern.
Hattie Sherman had the same mutation, which meant her identical twin sister, Mary Alice Moon, also had it. Moon decided to get a preventative double mastectomy, also performed at St. David's.
"I already had seen my mom go through the double mastectomy and seen Hattie as well. So I felt like I knew what was coming," Moon said. "I can now look back on and know I've done everything I can. I don't have to be sitting here wondering when maybe cancer will turn up its ugly head."
Breast cancer has impacted their entire family, but they became survivors together. Now they're using their journeys to help others.
Hattie Sherman and her twin have younger sisters, who are also identical twins. Their sisters have been tested and, fortunately, don't have the same mutation.