Publications > Newsletter
Summer 2008
Contents
Book Riview: Apron Strings
Testing for Early-Stage Ovarian Cancer
Other Genes Can Modify BRCA Risk
The Effect of BRCA on Young Couples
2008 Gala: Partying with Penguins
(to search past issues of our newsletter)
Book Review: Apron Strings
by Barbara Pfeiffer
In the preface to Apron Strings, Diane Tropea Greene says: “I would
prefer that it (Apron Strings) be looked upon as a symbol of all that can
be learned from the past—and all that the future has waiting for us. We only have to look for it.”
Apron Strings delivers this message through the story of the Fraine family. With four siblings—Ms. Greene’s mother, aunt and two uncles—all dealing with a cancer diagnosis (three of them diagnosed with breast cancer), the Fraine family seems to be under a dark cloud. When Diane finds out her breast cancer was caused by the BRCA2 mutation, a light begins to dawn.
As her story evolves, Ms. Greene uses her family memories and her own journal entries to weave together a powerful, sometimes sad, but more often uplifting story of a BRCA family who faces their challenges with a tremendous sense of humor and a lot of love.
Beginning with Ms. Greene’s memories of her mother, aunt and uncles, Apron Strings takes us from one generation to the next as Ms. Green, along with her sisters and cousins, learns about the BRCA test, goes for genetic counseling, and makes her own personal decisions about testing, surveillance and prophylactic surgeries.
In “The Rest of My Life,” the book’s final chapter, Ms. Greene shows the same optimism she and her family applied throughout their journey. While acquaintances who learn her story feel sorry for her and her family, Ms. Greene feels differently. “I have come to appreciate all that it (being BRCA) has taught me.”
To order Apron Strings visit www.apronstringsbook.com.
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