Journalist with gene mutation decides to head off cancer by having breasts removed

• Scott LaMar
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
  
  Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
  
  Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
  
  In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
  
  LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
  
  The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
  
  LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
  
  A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are two genes that are important to fighting cancer called tumor suppressor genes. Breast cancer.

Airdate: June 28, 2023

BRCA stands for breast cancer. It refers to genetic mutation that carries a high risk of ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer.

Many Americans learned about BRCA when actress Angelina Jolie announced in 2013 that she tested positive for BRCA-1 and had a double mastectomy to prevent the risk of cancer.

PennLive Public Safety Editor Christine Vendel recently found that she tested positive for the BRCA-2 mutation and decided to have her breasts removed to head off breast cancer.

She wrote about it in a column entitled “I’m removing my breasts before they have a chance to kill me.”

On The Spark Wednesday, Vendel explained the BRCA-2 mutation greatly increased her chances of developing breast cancer, “It does give you up to a 70% chance of breast cancer and it can be associated with triple negative, which is a really aggressive, hard to treat breast cancer, which is what my mom had.” Vendel’s mother died of breast cancer at age 61 in 2004.

Christine Vendel on The Spark, June 28, 2023

Vendel decided to get tested for the BRCA mutation when a cousin was diagnosed with cancer, one of several family members with cancer,”I went to UPMC and they have a genetic counseling department. I went in with my cousin’s paperwork and said, This is what’s in my family and gave the history of my grandfather dying from pancreatic and all of that. And then they said, okay, well, we can just test for breast cancer mutations or we can test for the works. And I said, Give me the works. Why not find out any risk if we’re going to do this? And they took a blood sample and ran it for a bunch of different DNA gene mutations and also RNA. So RNA like reads the DNA. So you could have a mutation in either one. And they tested for all that. And then it just came back with the only known one was BRCA2.”

Vendel said that once she knew she was positive for the BRCA-2 mutation, it wasn’t a hard decision to have her breasts removed,”I’m going to do the risk reducing double mastectomy because the odds are not good. I saw what my mom went through and I just can’t go through testing every six months and being on pins and needles, (wondering) when I’m going to get the positive test result.”

Vendel had the surgery to remove her breasts and also had a tissue transplant to reconstruct breasts. She plans to have her ovaries removed as well to avoid ovarian cancer.