Life in Asymmetry: One Woman’s Personal and Family Experience with Genetic Breast Cancer

Not so long ago, talking about breast cancer (or the threat of it) was taboo. Few women spoke openly about their fears of diagnosis, dealing with treatment, or the after-effects of mastectomy. These feelings were personal and held tightly, leaving many women feeling alone and unaware of the sisterhood of women before them who had struggled with the same issues.
 
But things have changed, and for the better. An overwhelming amount of information is available now about prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, treatment and beyond. It’s still a scary road, the cancer journey, but knowing so many have gone before—how they felt, what they experienced, and how they triumphed—can be informative, enlightening and comforting.
 
In the past few years, numerous women have published memoirs about their breast cancer experiences, and now, in a notable new entry, a California woman openly shares the challenges of living with a high-risk BRCA2 gene mutation.
 
Life in Asymmetry: A hopeful journey over the peaks and valleys of genetic breast cancer is Raychel Kubby Adler’s heartfelt and straightforward story of a family that has been deeply impacted by a hereditary BRCA gene mutation that significantly raises the risk of breast, ovarian and other cancers. She is unabashedly honest as she chronicles the role of her own breasts—from “mosquito bites” to “double whammies” to “time bombs”—throughout her life, and sharing the painful experience of losing her mother and sister to breast cancer. She writes of her decision to undergo double mastectomies to reduce her own risk of breast cancer, and of the subsequent medical setbacks she suffered while pursuing breast reconstruction.
 
Adler eloquently expresses the profound and heartbreaking impact of breast cancer on her family, of the difficult decisions to reduce her own risk, and her fears and hopes for her daughters. Her story is one of heartbreak, persistence, strength and hope, and is sprinkled with humor throughout.
 
Life in Asymmetry is available at Amazon.com and www.raychelkubbyadler.com.