I stand close to my mother my
eight-year-old hand nestled in hers as
another cancer story is told a glance at
her breast I wonder if the cancers still
there after the surgery that made her
left breast look like my dad’s I wonder
if it’s a snake swallowing bits of my 38
year old mother I didn’t know then that
the snake would be in me not long after
my mom starts chemotherapy I am
determined to be involved for her last
treatment session my parents let me go I
remember my mom sitting in a reclining
chair her right arm with a long tube in
it I wonder is the snake drinking this
red stuff then my mom starts tanning I
later learned that this is radiation in
the wake of uncertainty she chose to do
radiation I love my head on her shoulder
and the snake is there with us
it’s fangs already sunk into my young
chest waiting years later while working
on my doctorate in health communication
the focused genetic risk and hereditary
cancer I find out that I carried the
brca2 genetic mutation the snake which
greatly increases my lifetime risk of
developing hereditary breast and ovarian
cancer the snake has awoken and it is
now my turn to make decisions in the
wake of uncertainty life is full of
these from little decisions such as
trying your clothes on in the morning to
find him a lifelong partner but we often
times
limited in the wake of uncertainty but
instead of being afraid of it we can
embrace it
or as my mother always says you make the
best decision you can with the
information you have at that time
oftentimes the decisions we have to make
are based on antiguos complex and
unpredictable information so how do you
make decisions in the wake of
uncertainty that question I’d like to
drop my personal experiences testing
positive for brca2 and my research on
health communication in order to offer
steps for how you and I can make
decisions in the wake of uncertainty my
childhood experiences really encouraged
me to pursue a doctorate in health
communication the use of communication
strategies in order to understand
experiences patients and Families
experiences in order to improve health
outcomes after testing positive for BRCA
2 and then beginning my cancer
surveillance I realized that I started
experiencing a lot of uncertainty
uncertainty about what my future might
bring
now uncertainty exists when we believe
something of our situation might be
ambiguous complex or unpredictable and
after testing positive for BRCA 2 and
beginning to embark on a cancer
surveillance appointments I I really
wanted to understand my genetic risk so
I wanted to know if by age 70 I too have
an 84% chance of developing breast
cancer and a 27%
chance of developing ovarian cancer but
the disease sleeps are hard to
conceptualize so imagine it this way
what if I told you on a trip you are
planning to take you had an 84 percent
chance of not making it home safely
would you board your plane is
experiencing uncertainty I wanted to
know if other people work to interview
patients who tested positive for brca1
have not been diagnosed with cancer
and I figured this I’d be able to help
them and in the process I can help
myself so the first thing I learned is
this a positive patients experience to
sources of uncertainty medical
uncertainty is family uncertainty
medical uncertainty encompassed the
unknown future attending cancer
surveillance appointments and personal
cancer scares and this was true for me
testing positive for brca2 I often
wonder not if I’m going to get cancer
but when what I’m attending my cancer
surveillance appointments I lie in the
MRI machine and nearly suffocate from
thoughts over 3d I would just might find
it wasn’t just medical uncertainty so
experienced family uncertainty is
encompassed traumatic cancer family
members and desires new mothers better
for their children again thoughts and
feelings I grappled with to the
uncertainty that seemed to be my
constant shadow so I conducted more
research and I and then then and the
second thing I learned is that bear
sleep
if patients attempt to manage their
uncertainty of seeking information the
top three information sources to manage
uncertainty or cancer related nonprofit
organizations health care providers and
the internet which encompass private
Facebook groups and media sources so
after they’re conducting all of this
research my research team and I then
learned that patients wanted to create
some type of plan of action to manage
their genetic health risk with their
healthcare providers somehow seeking
organizing and utilizing the information
they found make them feel empowered safe
in in some form of control even after
conducting all of this research though I
began to realize that completely
eliminate the uncertainty indeed the
ironic thing about my work is that one
would find some magic solution that
would alleviate the fear and uncertainty
I had about getting cancer just like my
mother and you know what’s coming the
magic solution doesn’t exist in other
words
Marvin search revealed that tests for
BRCA does not decrease our uncertainty
no no that’s impossible for BRCA makes
us realize and it is certain uncertainty
is certain that we’re uncertain the
worst about our uncertainty in our lives
so after that I was trying to grapple
with these feelings that I was
experiencing and so I reflected on other
patients experiences too and I realized
that that I wasn’t the only patient
experiencing this
I’m not just talking about other BRCA
positive patients but but other patients
too like your cousin with diabetes your
father with heart disease or your
grandmother living with Alzheimer’s and
even broader than that our patients and
our humans all right
testing positive for BRCA made me
realize that life is uncertain but it is
in the uncertainty of our lives that we
learn and grow
so my new venture and my challenge me
tonight is to not worry about our
uncertainty it’s to live life fully
embrace the uncertainty we feel coping
with the uncertainty we feel whether
that’s am I going to get into graduate
school
we’ll find a lifelong partner well I did
that dream job I’ve always wanted or
will I inherit that family disease but
how do we cope with uncertainty I’d like
to offer some steps for leading with
uncertainty first live a life fully talk
wait for the best time the right place
tibbe life-affirming
risks now after a mother’s cancer
diagnosis my parents lived in the now
instead of buying a new car or couch
they got airline tickets and together we
travelled the world not waiting until my
brother and I were old enough second we
cut people slack we don’t know
everyone’s story you don’t know what the
Starbucks barista is experiencing you
don’t know what your classmate or your
professor for that matter is dealing
with and don’t know what the person in
the grocery checkout line is
experiencing either just like us they
are doing the best they can with the
information they have finally we embrace
the uncertainty we feel not limited by
ambiguous complex or unpredictable
information as my mother says we make
the best decisions we can with the
information we have at that time but
I’ll add this even if those decisions
have to be made with ambiguous or
unpredictable information one way I
choose to harness my uncertainty is by
helping men and women and children who
are affected by BRCA and hereditary
cancer through my research by
volunteering with a nonprofit
organization called force and by
participating in the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention’s national young
women and breast cancer campaign called
bring their brave we can control our
destiny it just depends on how formation
so what does this mean for you and I
tonight you know a few years ago or so
my father sat me down by me and he said
don’t you wanna study something less
personal well we should tested negative
for BRCA 2 this is Who I am I am a bear
see a positive patient with an unknown
future but I refuse to be limited by
something that may or may not happen
instead I choose to embrace my identity
striving to help others while continuing
to challenge myself I choose to embrace
my uncertain future and follow my
mother’s wise words make the best
decisions I can with the information I
have at that time you too can embrace
who you are regardless of what you
perceive to be your limitations and your
strengths and live life fully
in the wake of uncertainty
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
eight-year-old hand nestled in hers as
another cancer story is told a glance at
her breast I wonder if the cancers still
there after the surgery that made her
left breast look like my dad’s I wonder
if it’s a snake swallowing bits of my 38
year old mother I didn’t know then that
the snake would be in me not long after
my mom starts chemotherapy I am
determined to be involved for her last
treatment session my parents let me go I
remember my mom sitting in a reclining
chair her right arm with a long tube in
it I wonder is the snake drinking this
red stuff then my mom starts tanning I
later learned that this is radiation in
the wake of uncertainty she chose to do
radiation I love my head on her shoulder
and the snake is there with us
it’s fangs already sunk into my young
chest waiting years later while working
on my doctorate in health communication
the focused genetic risk and hereditary
cancer I find out that I carried the
brca2 genetic mutation the snake which
greatly increases my lifetime risk of
developing hereditary breast and ovarian
cancer the snake has awoken and it is
now my turn to make decisions in the
wake of uncertainty life is full of
these from little decisions such as
trying your clothes on in the morning to
find him a lifelong partner but we often
times
limited in the wake of uncertainty but
instead of being afraid of it we can
embrace it
or as my mother always says you make the
best decision you can with the
information you have at that time
oftentimes the decisions we have to make
are based on antiguos complex and
unpredictable information so how do you
make decisions in the wake of
uncertainty that question I’d like to
drop my personal experiences testing
positive for brca2 and my research on
health communication in order to offer
steps for how you and I can make
decisions in the wake of uncertainty my
childhood experiences really encouraged
me to pursue a doctorate in health
communication the use of communication
strategies in order to understand
experiences patients and Families
experiences in order to improve health
outcomes after testing positive for BRCA
2 and then beginning my cancer
surveillance I realized that I started
experiencing a lot of uncertainty
uncertainty about what my future might
bring
now uncertainty exists when we believe
something of our situation might be
ambiguous complex or unpredictable and
after testing positive for BRCA 2 and
beginning to embark on a cancer
surveillance appointments I I really
wanted to understand my genetic risk so
I wanted to know if by age 70 I too have
an 84% chance of developing breast
cancer and a 27%
chance of developing ovarian cancer but
the disease sleeps are hard to
conceptualize so imagine it this way
what if I told you on a trip you are
planning to take you had an 84 percent
chance of not making it home safely
would you board your plane is
experiencing uncertainty I wanted to
know if other people work to interview
patients who tested positive for brca1
have not been diagnosed with cancer
and I figured this I’d be able to help
them and in the process I can help
myself so the first thing I learned is
this a positive patients experience to
sources of uncertainty medical
uncertainty is family uncertainty
medical uncertainty encompassed the
unknown future attending cancer
surveillance appointments and personal
cancer scares and this was true for me
testing positive for brca2 I often
wonder not if I’m going to get cancer
but when what I’m attending my cancer
surveillance appointments I lie in the
MRI machine and nearly suffocate from
thoughts over 3d I would just might find
it wasn’t just medical uncertainty so
experienced family uncertainty is
encompassed traumatic cancer family
members and desires new mothers better
for their children again thoughts and
feelings I grappled with to the
uncertainty that seemed to be my
constant shadow so I conducted more
research and I and then then and the
second thing I learned is that bear
sleep
if patients attempt to manage their
uncertainty of seeking information the
top three information sources to manage
uncertainty or cancer related nonprofit
organizations health care providers and
the internet which encompass private
Facebook groups and media sources so
after they’re conducting all of this
research my research team and I then
learned that patients wanted to create
some type of plan of action to manage
their genetic health risk with their
healthcare providers somehow seeking
organizing and utilizing the information
they found make them feel empowered safe
in in some form of control even after
conducting all of this research though I
began to realize that completely
eliminate the uncertainty indeed the
ironic thing about my work is that one
would find some magic solution that
would alleviate the fear and uncertainty
I had about getting cancer just like my
mother and you know what’s coming the
magic solution doesn’t exist in other
words
Marvin search revealed that tests for
BRCA does not decrease our uncertainty
no no that’s impossible for BRCA makes
us realize and it is certain uncertainty
is certain that we’re uncertain the
worst about our uncertainty in our lives
so after that I was trying to grapple
with these feelings that I was
experiencing and so I reflected on other
patients experiences too and I realized
that that I wasn’t the only patient
experiencing this
I’m not just talking about other BRCA
positive patients but but other patients
too like your cousin with diabetes your
father with heart disease or your
grandmother living with Alzheimer’s and
even broader than that our patients and
our humans all right
testing positive for BRCA made me
realize that life is uncertain but it is
in the uncertainty of our lives that we
learn and grow
so my new venture and my challenge me
tonight is to not worry about our
uncertainty it’s to live life fully
embrace the uncertainty we feel coping
with the uncertainty we feel whether
that’s am I going to get into graduate
school
we’ll find a lifelong partner well I did
that dream job I’ve always wanted or
will I inherit that family disease but
how do we cope with uncertainty I’d like
to offer some steps for leading with
uncertainty first live a life fully talk
wait for the best time the right place
tibbe life-affirming
risks now after a mother’s cancer
diagnosis my parents lived in the now
instead of buying a new car or couch
they got airline tickets and together we
travelled the world not waiting until my
brother and I were old enough second we
cut people slack we don’t know
everyone’s story you don’t know what the
Starbucks barista is experiencing you
don’t know what your classmate or your
professor for that matter is dealing
with and don’t know what the person in
the grocery checkout line is
experiencing either just like us they
are doing the best they can with the
information they have finally we embrace
the uncertainty we feel not limited by
ambiguous complex or unpredictable
information as my mother says we make
the best decisions we can with the
information we have at that time but
I’ll add this even if those decisions
have to be made with ambiguous or
unpredictable information one way I
choose to harness my uncertainty is by
helping men and women and children who
are affected by BRCA and hereditary
cancer through my research by
volunteering with a nonprofit
organization called force and by
participating in the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention’s national young
women and breast cancer campaign called
bring their brave we can control our
destiny it just depends on how formation
so what does this mean for you and I
tonight you know a few years ago or so
my father sat me down by me and he said
don’t you wanna study something less
personal well we should tested negative
for BRCA 2 this is Who I am I am a bear
see a positive patient with an unknown
future but I refuse to be limited by
something that may or may not happen
instead I choose to embrace my identity
striving to help others while continuing
to challenge myself I choose to embrace
my uncertain future and follow my
mother’s wise words make the best
decisions I can with the information I
have at that time you too can embrace
who you are regardless of what you
perceive to be your limitations and your
strengths and live life fully
in the wake of uncertainty
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
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