If you find out your cancer is hereditary, knowing which gene mutations are involved enables you to:
• tailor your cancer treatments to your particular cancer, when possible;
• take available steps to decrease your risk of developing other cancers; and
• help your family members minimize their risk of cancer.
What if you don’t want to know?
Part of you may not want to know if your cancer is hereditary. Listen to the part of you that wants to do the best thing for your health and for your family. Finding out you have a mutation can be upsetting. Yet many patients report feeling relief and a renewed sense of control: “Learning I have a mutation does not change what is. It changes what I can do about what is.”
Lynch Syndrome Ireland 