Last week, I wrote an article for The Chronicle about the increased risk of ovarian and breast cancer for Ashkenazi women, who are five times more likely than the general population to be carriers of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. Those gene mutations indicate a high risk of developing cancer. If a blood test reveals that one is a carrier of the gene mutation, doctors generally recommend radical prophylactic surgery to remove the ovaries, and sometimes a masectomy, in order to prevent contracting the disease.
During the time I was working on the article, I became aware of three different members of my congregation, Beth El of the South Hills, who were dealing with this very issue. Our rabbi, Alex Greenbaum, took the news very seriously, and asked me what Beth El could do to help get out the word, and to increase awareness to help prevent the disease.
Rabbi Greenbaum asked me if I thought it made sense to bring the diagnostic blood test into the shul to offer testing to our congregants. I told him that the test is very expensive, and that each individual would have to check with her insurer to see if it would cover the cost, so that it would not be practical to bring the test into the shul. We also discussed the possibility of forming a Beth El team to walk in the Ovarian Cancer Walk this coming Sunday, but quickly realized that Sunday was a holiday—Sukkot. I suggested he get in touch with our fellow congregant, Leslie Hoffman, who happens to be president of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition to see if she had any ideas.
By Yom Kippur morning, Leslie had prepared information sheets about the disease to distribute to the members of Beth El. Rabbi Greenbaum also spoke about the disease and the gene mutation from the bimah, warning women to be on the alert for the signs of ovarian cancer, and to ask their physicians about the blood test if they have a family history of the disease.
If every congregation in the city helps to get the word out, as did Rabbi Greenbaum, maybe we can reduce the incidences of this deadly disease in our community.
Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 10:10AM 