Woman discovers breast cancer gene, takes health into her own hands

WARRENVILLE, Ill., Oct. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Mary Bis knew she wanted to live a long and healthy life, she just needed some additional measures to help get her health under control.

Bis, 44, of Elmhurst, Ill., has a family history of cancer. While her mother was going through treatment, her mother's internal medicine physician, Diane Fabrizius, M.D., Elmhurst Memorial Medical Group, suggested Bis and her siblings get tested for the breast cancer gene (BRCA).

Bis met with a genetic counselor, who gave her a blood test and mapped out her family tree. Her results came back BRCA-positive.

"I wanted to have children first and I was also committed to my profession. After my mom passed away, that expedited things. I knew I needed to get my life going and address my own risk," she says.

Her doctor, obstetrician-gynecologist Brian Sklar, M.D., an independent physician on the medical staff at Elmhurst Hospital, performed an oophorectomy to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes. She then had a prophylactic double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer. Once she was through with her preventative surgeries, she began breast reconstruction.

The road to recovery had started, but she didn't recover as quickly as she had hoped.

"During recovery, I put on lots of weight, which made the healing process that much harder," she says.

Along with weight gain, Bis struggled with shortness of breath, back pain, joint pain and sleep apnea due to being overweight. She researched bariatric surgery, but the idea was daunting — it was another surgery and another recovery.

"Once I read that gastric bypass was completed laparoscopically, it helped me expedite my decision making," she says.

She attended her first information session with bariatric and obesity medicine specialists Mark Choh, M.D., and Omar Shamsi, M.D. of Endeavor Health Weight Management at Edward-Elmhurst Health in suburban Chicago. Hearing the health benefits of the surgery — which were more than just weight loss — struck a chord.

The surgery was minimally invasive, with a brief healing time. Once it was over, Bis was ready to see results, but it all depended on her commitment level.

"I am down over 150 pounds, I have more energy, more comfort when exercising, and I enjoy being active.

"It's hard to believe when I started this journey, I had an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer and now I have less than a two percent chance, while also decreasing my risk for other health problems," Bus says. "It hasn't been easy, but I know these surgeries will have a large impact on my quality of life going forward."

For more information, visit EEHealth.org.

SOURCE Edward-Elmhurst Health

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