Overview
- Kate and Elizabeth Singletary of Winston-Salem, N.C., say they are now cancer-free after diagnoses in 2024 and surgeries five days apart.
- Both sisters tested positive for the CHEK2 mutation, which is associated with elevated breast-cancer risk and informed their treatment decisions.
- Kate’s biopsy showed invasive ductal carcinoma treated as Stage III, leading to 20 weeks of chemotherapy, double mastectomy, further lymph-node surgery, and six weeks of radiation.
- Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist and breast surgeon Dr. Marissa Howard-McNatt cite the case to recommend high-risk monitoring that starts mammography about 10 years before a relative’s diagnosis and alternates with MRI.
- Kate continues follow-up checks for residual disease, and the family notes a broader cancer history with their father’s prior multiple myeloma.