Megan Marchi was a special case.

With 11 women on her mother's side of the family having breast cancer at some point in their lives, Marchi knew as a young woman that she was at risk of developing the disease.

"It's all on my maternal grandmother's side," Marchi says. "There's been 11 women on that side as of 2007, and there was already 11. My mom was one of them, and then I had an aunt, too, who was one of the 11."

Marchi decided at 26 to have a bilateral prophylactic mastectomy to remove her breasts and decrease her likelihood of developing breast cancer.

At the time, she was working at the state Disability Determinations office in Cape Girardeau, and learned from a co-worker who had lost her mother to breast cancer about the preventative measure.

"That got me thinking, I was like, 'Well, you know, there's a lot of women on my mom's side that have had breast cancer, and basically I think I'm going to get it, I'm just waiting for my turn,'" she says. "So that's when I started doing the family research and finding out how many women there were."

She decided to visit a general surgeon and plastic surgeon in St. Louis. The general surgeon told her she needed to have genetic counseling before she went through with the procedure, and that's when the family tree came into the picture and showed the widespread effect of breast cancer on her mother's side of the family.

"The general surgeon was kind of leery. This was 2006 when I first started this, and back then you didn't really do that. I did it before Angelina thought it was cool," Marchi says laughing. "... Once I showed him my family tree, he was like, 'Oh, my gosh.' So he wrote the letter to insurance and I was approved in less than 24 hours."

At the time, Marchi was the youngest patient her surgeon had ever had elect for a prophylactic mastectomy.

"It took a lot of doctors visits to these doctors and basically they were like, 'Are you sure you want to do this? You're so young,'" she says.

But she was sure of her decision, and hasn't felt any regret since.

"Basically I had the surgery because I thought, 'I want to preserve my future,'" she says. "I know anything could happen to us, I could get hit by a car tomorrow, but it's knowing that I have peace of mind knowing that that part is taken care of. Especially because I saw my mom going through chemo and radiation, I thought if and when I have kids I didn't want them to have to go through that and stuff like that."

She had the bilateral mastectomy followed by the insertion of tissue expanders, which are used to help expand breast skin and muscle in the breast reconstruction process. A few months later she had implants put in, and has since had 3-D nipple tattoos added.

"A year or two ago I went back up to St. Louis and found a lady who did the 3-D tattooing and it's awesome," she says.

With more than 10 years passed since her surgery, Marchi, now 37, says she remains happy with her decision and that her scars are minimal in comparison to those who have lived through and are living with breast cancer.

"Just knowing that basically I was being proactive, and I wasn't having to be sick like others were," she says. "I knew that I didn't have to worry about, 'Is this cancer going to kill me?' I knew that mine was easy compared to actual cancer patients."

Megan has two sons, Sutton and Cullen, 7 and 4 respectively, with her husband Todd, and the family lives in Jackson. They are partner owners of Marco Construction Products in Cape Girardeau.

lyoung@semissourian.com

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