study. In 1996, as part of that study, I learned that
I carry an altered gene that increases my risk for
breast and ovarian cancer. On the strength of this
new information, I was able to get mammograms
at regular intervals.
40–59 years
60+ years
At age 42, my mammogram showed some suspicious
I feel great these days and am grateful that the
calcifications. A biopsy revealed breast cancer. I had
research study led to my cancer being detected early.
a partial mastectomy with 12 lymph nodes removed.
I continue my practice of regular self-examination and
Because 3 of the 12 nodes showed cancer, I had
see my doctor twice a year. I have had no recurrences
both radiation and chemotherapy and was put on
of the breast cancer and feel confident of the future.
tamoxifen (a drug that reduces the chances of breast
Because the altered gene I carry also predisposes me
cancer developing) for five years.
to increased risk of ovarian cancer, I considered having
my ovaries removed, but finally decided not to take
that step. But, I will have regular check-ups!
Master 1.1j (page 10 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Leila Johnson
I was born in 1929 in Los Angeles of African American parents. My father was part owner of a small corner grocery store, and my mother taught piano lessons. My family had no history of cancer.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I was a quiet child who loved to read and to write
I finished my degree and, at age 22, married my
poetry and short plays, which my friends and I would
childhood sweetheart. My husband and I moved to
stage. I was a good student and neither smoked nor
rural Georgia, where I taught high school during
drank. After finishing high school, I started college,
the school year and gardened during the summer.
majoring in English literature.
Because of regular insect invasions, I used pesticides
often, but always washed my vegetables before
eating them. I also oversaw the pesticide spraying
that I sometimes hired people to do in my gardens.
After two miscarriages, I had my first child at age 28.
40–59 years
60+ years
I had my second and third children at ages 31 and 37.
I found my first lump in my breast when I was
Although I breastfed the first two children for a year
63. When I saw the doctor six months later I was
each, I didn’t breastfeed the third.
diagnosed with breast cancer. By then, the treatment
was full mastectomy. After my surgery, I was put on
Because of the distance I had to travel to see my
a schedule of radiation therapy and chemotherapy,
doctor, I had only sporadic health care most of my
then started on tamoxifen, a drug that reduces the
life. I examined my breasts when I remembered to—
risk of developing breast cancer. Today, I am doing
perhaps two or three times a year—but typically I
poorly—the cancer has metastasized to my liver
did not have regular clinical examinations.
and is not responding to therapy.
Mammograms at ages 50 and 56 were normal;
I experienced menopause at age 53 and went
on hormone replacement therapy.
Master 1.1k (page 11 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Avi Rothstein
I was born in 1950 in New York City. My family was of eastern German descent; sadly, most of them died in the Holocaust. One uncle, who also lives in New York, seems hale and hearty.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I grew up in a poor neighborhood and didn’t get
After college, I went to law school and then lived
regular health care. Despite this, I was a healthy child
and worked as a lawyer in New York. My job carried
(though my mother often scolded me for not eating
very high stress, and I had little time to relax. I even
my vegetables). I was raised on a traditional kosher
ate on the run, except for rare weekends that I spent
diet; I didn’t smoke, even as a teenager, and drank
on Long Island with my wife’s family.
only occasionally.
40–59 years
60+ years
At age 41, I saw a doctor about my stomach. I had
I am doing well these days, but now I eat my
long suffered from an irritable bowel, but when the
vegetables and see my doctor regularly.
doctor found blood in my stool, even I was concerned.
A subsequent colonoscopy revealed several polyps in
my colon—one cancerous.
The cancer had not spread, so the surgeon was able
to remove it completely. The experience prompted me
to have colonoscopies every other year. I want to catch
the polyps before they can become cancerous. When
my uncle heard I had colon cancer, he decided to go
in for colon screening.
When he was found to have polyps too, we both
enrolled in a genetic-testing program to see whether
we carried predisposing genes. Both of us have a
predisposing mutation, one of several known to
increase risk of colon cancer.
Master 1.1l (page 12 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Elizabeth Gries
I was born in Milwaukee, the youngest of three children of a Polish mother and a German father. My father worked as a supervisor in a factory, and we lived in a nice but not fancy part of town. My father’s sister died of lung cancer when she was in her 60s (she was a heavy smoker); my father died of a heart attack in his late 40s.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I was an average student in school and considered
I got a job as a secretary for a car-parts manufacturer
myself pretty healthy and happy. I always ate well
after high school but quit after I was married at age
(I loved fried foods and meat), got lots of sleep,
23. I drank a little (just socially) and also smoked just
and had regular check-ups. In fact, my only serious
a little (maybe a pack a day). I had three children (at
health problem as a child was a broken leg when
ages 26, 29, and 33) who kept me busy and active.
I was 11. (My grandparents never forgave me
I was always very healthy (though I tended to be a
for jumping down from the loft in the barn on
little overweight) and saw my doctor at least once
their farm. ...)
a year for a check-up.
40–59 years
60+ years
I developed high blood pressure and high cholesterol
After my husband died, I sold my home, moved into
in my early 40s, which I struggled to control by
an apartment, and spent lots of time with my children
changing my diet. When I was 45, my doctor finally
and grandchildren. I continued seeing the doctor
put me on medication to control these problems.
regularly and, when I was 79, a routine mammogram
But when I was 53, I had a heart attack. You can
revealed breast cancer. Luckily (especially since I didn’t
believe I stopped smoking then fast! I also tried even
examine my breasts very often), we caught it early.
harder to eat a lower-fat diet. After menopause (I
I had a lumpectomy and radiation therapy and had
was 56), my doctor put me on hormone replacement
no problems from it afterward.
therapy, but it made me gain weight and eventually
he said I could stop taking it (I was 59).
Elizabeth died at age 83 from a second heart attack.
She was survived by three children and seven
grandchildren.
Master 1.1m (page 13 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Mark Harris
I am an African American man born of middle-class parents who lived in Detroit, Michigan. My only sister died of lung cancer when she was in her 50s, but I don’t know of any cancer in the family except that.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I didn’t like school much, though I was a good
The company I worked for encouraged me to get
student when I tried. I gave my mom some problems
my GED, and, in my early 30s, I was promoted to a
sometimes (mostly I just got in trouble for skipping
supervisory position. Life was good. I was busy with
school or fighting) and quit school when I was 16
a home and family (a wife and four kids) but found
to work on a production line for an automobile
time now and then to do some woodworking and
manufacturer. I didn’t take care of myself those
metal sculpture as a hobby. The company provided
days—I partied a lot on the weekends and often
good benefits, including a company-provided physical
forgot to eat.
each year, so I stayed pretty healthy. The doctor
discovered I had high blood pressure, but the
medicine I took controlled it and I didn’t worry.
40–59 years
60+ years
My interest in woodworking and sculpture really
I had a mild heart attack at age 74, but still didn’t
took off after my children left home and I retired
worry much about my health. My wife died a couple
(age 55). I won a couple of amateur art awards
of years later of breast cancer, and I was diagnosed
and also developed an interest in traveling.
with prostate cancer at age 80. They didn’t operate
because of my age and heart condition.
After a few years of suffering through the Michigan
winters, my wife and I moved to Arizona, where I
became active in AARP. I was especially interested
in the rights of retirees and was an advocate for
improved access to health care for the elderly. I didn’t
go to the doctor regularly because I felt good, but I
wanted to know I could get good care if I needed it.
Master 1.1n (page 14 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Shirlene Hvinden
I was born in a little town in eastern Minnesota of Scandinavian parents. I have three older brothers and one younger sister. We lived a pretty normal middle-class lifestyle: My father worked as a school teacher during the year and as a used-car salesman during the summers, and my mother stayed home and took care of us.
My grandfather died of skin cancer when he was pretty old, and my mother’s sister died of breast cancer.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I loved to read as a child and did well in social studies
When I was 21, I finished my education as a nurse,
and spelling but poorly in math and science. I also
got married, and took a job at a community hospital
loved to play and, despite my fair skin, spent most
in the outskirts of St. Paul. I had a son at age 22, then
of my summers outdoors. I had allergies so I took
went on birth control pills until I was 28. Although I
medications regularly and saw the doctor often.
spent lots of time at the hospital, I rarely went to the
doctor myself. I enjoyed my job, didn’t drink or smoke,
My mother cooked good, substantial meals (meat
and certainly didn’t experiment with drugs or do
and potatoes) and I ate well, though I didn’t like
anything dangerous.
vegetables and wouldn’t eat a bite more than the
“spoonful” my mother made me eat of any vegetable
but corn. After I graduated from high school, I went
to college in St. Cloud, Minnesota.
40–59 years
60+ years
My life during these years was quiet and peaceful.
When I was 61, I was asked to participate in a
My son lived at home as a college student, so I saw
PLCO (prostate, lung, colon, ovarian) screening
him often. I worked full time and contented myself
trial sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and
with keeping house, sewing, and reading. I also
administered through a local hospital. I was put into
began to volunteer one Saturday a month teaching
the group that received screening. The tests revealed
teenage mothers how to care for their newborn
that although my lungs and ovaries were okay, there
children at a health care clinic in downtown St. Paul.
were six large polyps in my colon. One of them
appeared to be invasive, and the doctor ordered
immediate surgery and chemotherapy. I did well
for a time, but four years later, a routine checkup
revealed more cancer.
Shirlene died at age 66 from colon cancer. She was
survived by her husband and unmarried son.
Master 1.1o (page 15 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Clarence Robinson
I was born in Nashville, Tennessee, of African American parents. My parents worked hard but were poor and struggled to make ends meet for my two older sisters and one older brother. My father and his brother both died of lung cancer in their early 60s.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I was a pretty good student, but I loved music more
I stayed with the army till I was 25, then left and
than anything. I had a natural ear and could play both
continued with my music, traveling for many
the guitar and the piano before I was 8. My talent and years with a couple of the big bands. I didn’t go hard work earned me a spot in a band when I was 12. to the doctor much, but, then, I didn’t need to By the time I was 16, I had quit school to go on the
go. I always was pretty skinny. I guess living on
road. That was a good time, but tough—we ate and
cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, and women doesn’t
slept as best we could in those days, often grabbing
really promote gaining weight.
any food we could find on the road. I also started
smoking and drinking when I was 15 and didn’t
I don’t think I have any children. . . .
really start taking care of myself until I joined the
army at age 18.
40–59 years
60+ years
I developed a persistent cough in my early 40s but
When I was 62, I gave up the lease on my apartment
ignored it, figuring it was natural given my age
and moved in with my older sister. I had developed
and lifestyle. By now, I had stopped traveling and
mild tremors by now and it was getting harder to
had settled down in a small apartment in Nashville,
play the piano. My cough continued—if anything, it
working as a back-up musician, mostly on piano. I
was getting worse. When I was 67, the doctor told me
never married, but with steady work and not traveling, I had mild emphysema. An X-ray at age 69, though, I started eating better and getting more regular sleep.
showed significant and inoperable lung cancer.
Clarence died at age 70 of lung cancer. He was
survived by two older sisters and one older brother.
Master 1.1p (page 16 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Sami Khalafa
I was born in San Francisco in 1926, of an African American father and Japanese mother. My family lived moderately: My parents were not rich, but they provided me with everything I needed and then some. My mother developed Alzheimer disease when she was in her late 60s, but there was no history of cancer in my family.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I was not a great student. Education was important
After the war, we moved back to San Francisco,
to my mother, however, so I tried very hard. My father
where my mother began to take in laundry to
died of a heart attack when I was 15, so my mother
support us. Soon after our return to the city, I was
and I went to live with my mother’s sister. Our lifestyle
married, and my husband and I worked with my
didn’t change much—we still ate mostly an Asian
mother to build a good laundry and tailoring
diet and our lives revolved around family activities.
business. I was in good health except for a little
arthritis from the regular sewing.
When World War II started, my mother and her
sister were sent to Utah to an internment camp
We had three children, but one died in infancy.
for Japanese nationals living in the United States.
We thought it was SIDS, but the doctors later
I went with my mother and continued my schooling.
said that it was thalassemia. After my children
It was there that I met the young Japanese man
were born, we began to eat a more “Western”
who was later to become my husband.
diet of meat and potatoes.
40–59 years
60+ years
Our children both went to college. Our son became
I was shocked when I was diagnosed with Parkinson
a successful businessman; our daughter went to law
disease at age 62. I had been active and healthy
school and works as a defense lawyer in New York
all my life, needing little in the way of health care.
City. I worked less in the business and spent my time
The Parkinson disease, on the other hand, took
offering workshops at the community center on
years to control. During that time, I saw my doctor
Japanese culture and language. It was important to
regularly. When I was 67, she convinced me to have
me to promote an understanding of Japanese culture
a sigmoidoscopy (an examination of my colon); it
among people of all ethnic backgrounds.
revealed three polyps, one of which had invaded other
tissues. They removed the cancer surgically, but my
relief at that was clouded by the Parkinson disease,
which was getting worse.
Sami died at age 69 of Parkinson disease. Her
husband and children remember her each year with
a special family dinner on her birthday.
Master 1.1q (page 17 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Frank Trueblood
I was born in 1930 on a reservation in Wyoming, of Native American parents. I don’t know of anyone in my family who had cancer.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I always hated school and did everything I could
I moved back to Wyoming after I was discharged
to avoid going. Our family was poor, but so was
from the army. By then, I had decided that I wanted
everyone else on the reservation, and somehow we
to be a rancher, and I went back to school on the
got along. I don’t remember going to the doctor
GI bill to get a degree in agriculture. I did the rodeo
much as a child, though when I broke my arm,
circuit for a while when I was in college and after,
my parents took me to the clinic for treatment.
but after a few more broken bones, I gave it up
for full-time ranching.
To get off the reservation, I joined the army in 1947
(I lied about my age). It was in the army that I started
drinking and smoking.
40–59 years
60+ years
Life on the ranch was good—I ate well (lots of meat
I developed a little abdominal pain after I passed 60,
and black coffee) and drank hard with my men.
but I treated it with antacids and it always seemed
I never married (it was no life for a lady), though I
to settle down afterward. One day, though, when
have two kids who live in the city with their mother.
I was 67, I got kicked by a horse and had to go to
It’s just as well the kids don’t live with me. Way out
the hospital. They noticed blood in my stool and
on the ranch, there’s not much for them to do and
insisted that I get a test for colon cancer. Sure
there’re no doctors and only a little local school.
enough it was there, and before I knew it, they
had cut me open and removed it. I went for
I sometimes worry that I don’t have a family to take
chemotherapy for a while, but I’m okay now.
care of me if I get hurt, but there’s really nothing I
Even the doc says I’m probably going to make it.
can do about it. I don’t even have health insurance
The doc also says he can help me stop drinking.
because I can’t afford it. I guess it’s okay. I don’t trust
I’m lucky to get a second chance, so maybe I’d
doctors anyway. The last time I saw one, he told me
better try.
I had to quit drinking because I was developing liver
problems. I ignored him; I’ve known plenty of men
who’ve enjoyed booze all of their lives and still lived
to a ripe old age. So what does he know?
Master 1.1r (page 18 of 30)
Copyright © 1999 by BSCS and Videodiscovery, Inc. Permission granted for classroom use. Updated 2012.
Angela Seader
I was born in 1940 in St. Louis in a middle-class, African American family. My parents were healthy most of their lives. As far as I know, there was no history of cancer in my family.
0–19 years
20–39 years
I got a basic education but never was much interested
I started to smoke a little after I was married, but
in school and quit when I turned 16 to help out at
I never smoked much (not like my husband, who
home. I was a healthy child and never went to the
smoked three packs a day). I had three children,
doctor much. When I was 19, I got married and
though one died at birth. After the birth of my last
moved to Chicago with my husband.
child, I gave up smoking completely. I guess I figured
I inhaled enough smoke with my husband’s habit.
My husband had health insurance through his work,
so my kids got good health care. My youngest had
asthma, so we were at the doctor’s often with her.
40–59 years
60+ years
I went through menopause at about age 55, and
When my husband died of lung cancer (he was 72),
because I was concerned about osteoporosis, I went
I was really glad I’d quit smoking. But at age 76, the
on hormone replacement therapy right away. I didn’t
doctor made me get a chest X-ray to see what the
have any serious health problems except for occasional cause of my chronic cough was. He discovered a upper respiratory infections, a chronic cough, and
massive tumor in the middle of my left lung. It was
frequent bronchitis (I was always sure the problem
too big to operate, but I did have chemotherapy.
was the secondhand smoke from my husband’s
Eventually, I had to use oxygen in order to breathe
cigarettes). I had a mammogram every year and
easily. Finally, one of my upper-respiratory infections
generally tried to keep in shape. I really wanted
turned into pneu