Genetic Testing Decision
Tell me about the cancers in your blood relatives the way you'd tell a friend. I'll map them against the patterns Australian family cancer clinics look at, and give you the exact sentence to say to your GP.
You've mentioned something you're noticing in yourself. A new breast lump, bleeding that's not normal for you, blood in your poo, or unexplained weight loss should be checked by a doctor soon — don't wait on a family-history conversation. Call your GP for an urgent appointment, or if you're acutely unwell call 000.
Emergency — call 000
healthdirect nurse line 1800 022 222 (24/7)
It sounds like this is weighing on you heavily. You don't have to sit with that alone.
Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7)
Emergency — 000 if you're not safe right now
First Nations — 13YARN 13 92 76
The pattern read
Your family, the way a clinic reads it
| Relative | Cancer | Age | Side |
|---|
PATTERN READ →
Patterns Australian clinics commonly look at: breast cancer under 50 · breast + ovarian on the same side · two close relatives with the same cancer · bowel or uterine cancer under 50 (Lynch-type) · a known variant already in the family. (eviQ referral guidelines · Centre for Genetics Education)
The honest part
A referral is a conversation, not a verdict — and most people who go don't carry a faulty gene. Even with a strong family pattern, most people tested do not carry a high-risk variant. A referral gets you a proper risk assessment and counselling first — testing only happens if it's likely to change something, and only after you've talked it through. In Australia, funded testing isn't offered until a clinic assesses your chance of carrying a variant at roughly 1 in 10 or higher, using a scoring tool — this page can't calculate that number, and it isn't trying to. (MBS item 73296 eviQ)
A pattern below the usual line still deserves a mention to your GP — family history grows over time, and your GP can keep an eye on it. “Below the line today” is not “ignore it forever”.
For scale: about 11 in 100 women develop breast cancer over a lifetime; in families carrying a BRCA1/BRCA2 variant that runs much higher. Lynch-type bowel patterns carry roughly a 40–80% lifetime bowel-cancer risk for known carriers, versus around 1 in 25 in the general population. These are carrier figures — not your figure. Only a clinic can work out yours.