James Turner, 43, lives in Northumberland, England and is married to Claire. They have two children – a boy aged five and a girl aged eight. Both James’s mother (in 2000) and his brother (in 2011) died of stomach cancer. It was only after his brother’s diagnosis that James learnt about hereditary diffuse gastric cancer […]
A major breakthrough in the area of familial stomach cancer research was the discovery of the gene E-cadherin (CDH1) and the direct connection between genetic mutations and hereditary diffuse gastric cancer (HDGC). Since this discovery, hundreds of families worldwide have been tested and over one hundred found to carry a genetic mutation in the CDH1 […]
As I sit to write this, I realize my story is like a double-sided coin. On one side, I am an extremely lucky person. On the other side, I’m a cancer patient and survivor. It has taken a lot of effort and emotion for me to come to terms with that statement…that label – cancer […]
One of the most grim facts about Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer (HDGC) is that the average age of onset is 38. Although stomach cancer of all kinds is now being seen in people at younger and younger ages, the most recent statistics still show an average age at diagnosis of 70 years. Since the discovery of the […]
Today I met my first nonbeliever. Someone who hadn’t seen me around in a while, and asked where I’d been. ‘Oh, I was out of the office for a while, I had to have surgery….’ Non-Believer: Oh my, what’s wrong, is everything ok? Me: Yeah, I actually had to have my stomach removed!NB: Pardon?Me: I […]
Why don’t I feel normal? I know it’s still early, but I thought that once I started doing normal things – eating, working, going out – that I would feel like I was getting into my routine, into my life, back to normal. But I don’t, I feel uncomfortable and unsettled. I have been working […]
