Network News - Winter/Spring 2010 - Canadian Breast Cancer ...

Knowledge is Power
Interview with Jane Jankovic
By Ovarian Cancer Canada
Jane Jankovic “couldn’t roll up
her sleeve fast enough” to get
a blood test that would tell her
if she was genetically predisposed
to ovarian cancer – the disease that
claimed the lives of her mother and
grandmother.
Yet once she learned – on 9/11 – that
she carries a genetic mutation of the
BRCA1 gene, it took the television
producer two years to decide on a
prophylactic oophorectomy – surgical
removal of the ovaries and fallopian
tubes in a bid to prevent ovarian
cancer.
Despite the fact that her lifetime risk of
developing the disease was as high as
40% and she was also at high risk for
developing breast cancer, it took time
for her to decide on a course of action.
“I was playing the odds,” says Jane.
Part of the delay involved coming to
terms with not having children. She
also didn’t want to be thrown into
menopause at age 41.
When she did opt for surgery, what
she considered a tactical preventive
move may have actually saved her life.
After several analyses of her tissue,
pathologists found Stage II serous
ovarian cancer.
“I didn’t feel anger. I didn’t feel scared.
I felt relief,” recalls Jane. “I had lived
with the threat of cancer for so many
years that being able to focus on the
enemy seemed simpler than living in
fear of an ambush. Now that I knew I
had it, I could focus.
“In ovarian cancer, the cancer’s biggest
advantage is that you don’t know it’s
there until it’s too late. I was Stage
II. And I knew it was there. The
advantage was mine.”
Within a week, Jane began
chemotherapy followed by radiation
therapy that was part of a clinical trial.
That was in 2004 and Jane has been
well ever since. She continues to be
monitored for recurrence and screened
for breast cancer.
Jane Jankovic
Women who are diagnosed with
early-stage ovarian cancer and treated
have survival rates as high as 80% to
90%. Unfortunately, due to a lack of
a screening test for the disease, most
women are diagnosed in the late
stages when survival rates can be as
low as 20%.
Jane is grateful for genetic counselling
and testing – something that was not
available when her grandmother and
mother were alive. The BRCA1 and
BRCA2 genes were identified in the
mid-1990s after both of these women
had died. When genetic counselling
and testing were available in the new
millennium, Jane took advantage of
these advances.
“I didn’t have to think about doing the
test at all,” she says. “I was not one
of those people who was squeamish
about knowing. I wanted to know so I
could then make an informed decision
about what I could potentially do to
improve my chances of not getting
ovarian cancer. For me, it was all winwin
to know.”
While she appreciates the fact that
testing may not be for everybody,
Jane is a person who “wants all of
the information all of the time. I
think it’s one thing to be afraid of
having a genetic predisposition if
there’s nothing you can do with
that knowledge. But being tested for
BRCA1 or 2 does give you an option to
be preventative as much as possible.”
Jane recently celebrated her 50 th
birthday and over the years she has
learned hard lessons about life and
death, especially that “there are no
guarantees.”
Not only has she lost her mother and
grandmother to ovarian cancer, but
her father died of a heart attack weeks
after receiving a clean bill of health
from his cardiologist. “And my sister
went to emergency with chest pains
and was diagnosed with flu. She died
from heart failure the next day.”
Despite these experiences, Jane
remains grateful for the advances that
have allowed her to make decisions
that keep her healthy and active. She
encourages those who are eligible for
genetic counselling to take advantage
of it so they can decide whether or not
to be tested.
“This experience taught me that I can’t
control everything that happens to
me but I can control my response,”
says Jane. “I think cancer patients
can sometimes describe themselves
as powerless and vulnerable. I would
flip that around and say, it’s taught
me that I have a lot more power than I
thought I had.” •
Jane Jankovic has been a producer
with TVO for 15 years. A survivor of
hereditary ovarian cancer, she volunteers
with Ovarian Cancer Canada as a public
speaker and media spokesperson.
Network News Winter/Spring 2010 17