A woman who had a double mastectomy and her ovaries removed after a gene test put her at a high risk of cancers says she wanted to be “the author of my own story without the shadow of cancer hanging over me”.
Gail Hardy’s mother died of ovarian cancer and her paternal grandmother and aunt were both treated for breast cancer.
The 49-year-old tested positive for a faulty BRCA2 gene – and said she was determined to take control of her life by undergoing the preventative surgery which cuts her risk of cancer by 70%.
“Having to face up to my family’s legacy of lost lives was terrifying but knowledge is power,” Ms Hardy, from Melling, Sefton in Merseyside, said.