Breast cancer survivor hopes to be inspiration for others

Making strides against breast cancer. The Phoenix Walk stepped off earlier this morning with many survivors making every step count. And that includes Stephanie Stockmar, who's hoping to inspire others to walk, donate, and contribute to the American Cancer Society's mission. Desiree Flewellen shares her story. This is Stephanie Stockmar and her mother, Linda, a mother-daughter duo who know how cancer can devastate a family. Linda, a breast cancer survivor is now facing a battle with leukemia. Stephanie's uncle died from pancreatic cancer. My mom was in the middle of chemo and they, my uncle got really sick and passed away from pancreatic cancer. And her oncologist said that that was a very bizarre combination. Like it happened really fast and they decided they wanted to go ahead and test my mom to see if she was a BRCA carrier because with him dying of pancreatic cancer that kind of all falls underneath the same genetic testing. According to the National Breast Cancer Institute both men and women have two types of BRCA genes. If there is a problem found in one of those genes a person has a higher risk for developing cancers like breast cancer, ovarian, prostate and pancreatic cancer. My mom got tested and she came back that she was BRCA2 positive and so then they said you need to get your kids tested to make sure they're not a carrier. That's when Stephanie discovered she was also BRCA2 positive. Her doctors gave her an 87% chance of developing breast cancer in the future. I don't want to spend my whole life worrying and wondering if I was going to get breast cancer and then have to go through what my mom went through. So at 48, she decided to sacrifice what she says was a part of her womanhood, opting for surgery. I went in and had my ovaries removed first. I'd had a partial hysterectomy years ago and I was glad I did that. Two months later I went in had my mastectomy and then went through that journey and then did reconstructive surgeries. Stephanie took a proactive approach because she didn't want to become one of the more than 321,000 women who were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer this year alone. I don't have to worry that it's going to come knocking at my door. Her husband Steve and her son and daughter Austin and Lily stood firmly by her side throughout the journey. I sat with my kids, talked to my kids. They were in high school and I said, what do you want to, you know, this is what I'm thinking, this is what I'm doing. And then eventually I need you guys to get tested too. And them being a part of that process and making that decision was very important. Stephanie is now a previvor and a passionate advocate for the American Cancer Society, which encourages women with an average risk for breast cancer begin yearly mammograms at the age of 40.