Breast cancer is a scary diagnosis for a woman, her family and friends.  My mother's side of the family has a history of breast cancer. My sister, mom and I were involved in a study about 18 years ago at the Mayo clinic. They wanted to see if we carried the gene for breast cancer. We agreed to be in the study, but we decided not to find out if we had the gene or not. I decided that I did not want to know if I had the gene because it would cause more stress if I did. Ultimately the stress could lead to the gene being expressed. That was my choice.  I am being pro-active though and have decided to start getting yearly Thermography scans.