My friend's husband has a twin sister. They have had a high rate of cancer in their family. They're both in their 70's like me. They both had the BRCA gene test done years ago. The sister was told by the doctor, that it wasn't a matter of if she got cancer, it was a matter of when. My friend's husband tested negative. The sister had a hysterectomy, and had her breasts removed. She's been cancer-free. Five years ago, my friend's husband was diagnosed with a rare cancer of the larynx and pharynx, and underwent radiation and chemo treatments. He's made it five years being cancer free.
The cancer he contracted is common in mostly southern China. The only foreign place he ever traveled to was Pakistan when he was in the Air Force in the 60's. Because of the radiation treatments he underwent to that part of his body, his salivary glands no longer produce spit. He has to be very careful when he eats anything.
That’s a gene test to see if you are vulnerable to cancer. This is a blood test to see if you have cancer right now.
My father was dx’d w/nasopharyngeal cancer and died in 1981 at age 56 after about 4 years of radiation/chemo. I’ve read various theories about why it’s prevalent in parts of China; at the time, the docs had no idea why my father had it. He’d traveled through out Europe in WWII but had never been to the far east.