Fall is for Pumpkins – and Prioritizing Your Health
This fall, don’t forget to prioritize your health, especially as fall includes Tay-Sachs and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Months, and October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Taking control of your health and your family’s health is now easier and more reliable than ever with JScreen, a national public health initiative based out of Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Human Genetics in Atlanta.
“I am passionate about bringing cancer genetic testing and reproductive carrier screening to people who need them, regardless of where they live in the US,” says Karen Arnovitz Grinzaid, MS, CGC, Assistant Professor of Human Genetics at Emory University School of Medicine, and JScreen’s Executive Director. “All you have to do is visit our website at JScreen.org, where you can learn about genetic testing and sign up for an at-home test kit.”
JScreen offers two types of testing. Their CancerGEN test includes more than 60 cancer susceptibility genes associated with hereditary risks for ovarian, breast, prostate, colorectal, skin, and many other types of cancers. In fact, cancer survivors Sharon Osbourne and Fran Drescher have both recently advocated for JScreen.
“Cancer genetic testing is powerful because it gives people information about their risks so they can be proactive about their health,” explains Karen.
Knowing one’s risk for ovarian cancer, one of the most common cancers among women, is important. “Most women don’t realize that they have ovarian cancer until it’s in advanced stages because symptoms are vague. If we can tell a person they have a high genetic risk that predisposes them, they can intervene by having their ovaries and tubes removed after having children to significantly reduce their risk.”
JScreen’s reproductive carrier test, known as ReproGEN, tests for over 200 genetic diseases, including Tay-Sachs, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell disease, which could impact a couple’s future children. If a carrier couple is identified, JScreen goes over options available for family planning, including in vitro fertilization and using healthy embryos for each pregnancy, or using an egg or sperm donor who is not a carrier of the same disease to mitigate risk. Doing carrier testing prior to pregnancy is essential, as it gives couples the most options for family planning.
To get tested, simply go to www.jscreen. org and order your at-home kit. After testing, you will schedule a telehealth appointment with one of JScreen’s genetic counselors to go over the results and implications. The genetic counselor will also guide you through next steps and provide reports to you and your healthcare provider.
Take your health into your own hands with these affordable and easy-to-use test kits from JScreen. It might just save your life, and it will give your family a healthier future.
