Erica Packer reveals a mystery plaguing her family – will she be the next woman to be diagnosed with breast cancer?
Doctors say Erica is right to be worried. A family tree highlights the majority of women on her mother’s side have died from the disease, but no-one knows the cause.
Her sister, Jo Hunter, was diagnosed at the age of 39, the same year their mother died after 12 years of treatment for breast cancer.
She also lost her aunt and grandmother and many cousins in the older generations.
The ex-model is the former wife of James Packer, one of Australia’s richest men and they share three children.
Erica and her sister are supporters of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, which funds scientific research at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. There, scientists and doctors are looking at pinpointing the hereditary genes responsible for breast cancer plaguing thousands of Australian families.
Australian Story goes on the road with the sisters, from their birthplace of Gunnedah to Sydney, Melbourne and London as they explore the deadly mystery at the heart of their family.
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if you know you have these genetics in your family and you are lucky enough to know the genes that cause it, instead of playing Russian roulette with getting pregnant the traditional way, you should do IVF to make sure you don't pass down these genes
Wonder why someone decides to have kids, when there's so much cancer in the family…. It would scare me to death to ask myself when or if they will get it…
Wow thanks for this documentary. Very eye opening
It's amazing what geneticists can discover nowadays, the familial traits and conditions that can be passed on from one generation to the next. I have been involved in three studies.
Honestly I would get a mastectomy for prophylactic reasons. It doesn’t guarantee that you won’t get breast cancer but it reduces your chances by 90%.
VERY INFORMATIVE
We ALL have genetic conditions ( I’m cursed with more than half a dozen bad genetic conditions ) !, If that was the case NO ONE would have kids / YES it’s serious this breast cancer gene : BUT the women in this story are still alive , and they get tested regularly; while we are alive , “ WE LIVE”. We ALL are only here for Avery short time and need to make the most of the time that we do have………
Great story , sad I guess , but so lucky they have money … money fixes all ,this was just over the top so non relatable
The only way to stop it is to either don't have children or only have male children which is not a nice thing, but not impossible to do, unless of course it's passed down by the father as well.
CANCER is generally caused by a lack of death forces in ur body
know more read – watpad – Book Title – What doctors Don't know about cancer