The Parent Has a Cancer Gene—Should the Child Get Surgery?

Families that discover a mutation of the CDH1 gene find preventive removal of the stomach a harsh but necessary step

It was an easy decision for Dennis Reilly. Stomach cancer wasn’t going to take him, too.

He’d received no cancer diagnosis. But he’d lost two brothers to the disease. A positive genetic test indicated a strong chance he would suffer the same fate.

So he volunteered for a total stomach removal three years ago.

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