David Kettering’s case

Wellcome Connecting Science | Various | Empowering People: Genetic Counselling in Focus

David is a man in his 30s with stage four bowel cancer. This means the cancer is advanced and has spread from the bowel to other organs in his body and he knows his condition is terminal. After undergoing many treatments David has decided to discontinue these as he’d rather spend his remaining time with his family at home, instead of in hospital. He has been referred for genetic counselling by his senior specialist nurse in order understand whether his cancer is an inherited type. This feels especially important to David as his mother died from a uterine cancer when she was 45. David is particularly concerned to find out whether his three young children at risk of developing it, and if so, what bowel screen-ing can they access as children.

David was dealing with the difficult realisation that he would not live long enough to see his children grow up. His mother’s cancer diagnosis and early death was discussed with the genetic counsellor and was a strong factor in his decision to have a diagnostic genetic test. His test revealed an inheritable gene alteration. Whilst he was keen for his children to be tested, David worked with his genetic counsellor to find the right ways to communicate the options with his wife and children for when they felt it was the right time for them. The genetic counsellor also identified other family members who could also be at risk from de-veloping bowel cancer.