Diabetes | Diabetes Tips

Question: Is it possible for me or my sister to get cancer or diabetes?

(Posted by: Kathleen G on 2010-02-08 17:54:29)

On my father`s side of the family all of his siblings has diabetes except for himself and one of his sisters. Instead of diabetes they got cancer, is it possible that my father having had 3 children ( one male and a set of female twins) would my sister and I get diabetes or cancer?? or would we just be carriers for one or both of the diseases?? as far as i know there are 3 different types of cancer in are families blood line on my father`s side: skin cancer, I suspect the second one to be lung cancer, and my father refused to tell me what the third one is. my sister and I are 5 years younger than our brother, us being 18 and our brother being 23.

Posted by: lo_mcg on 2010-02-09, 01:17:31

First, cancer. Hereditary cancer is rare. Fewer than 10% of all cancer cases are hereditary, and cancer diagnosed after the age of 50 is even less likely to be hereditary. You don't inherit a general tendency to get cancer; there is no general 'cancer gene' that you can be a carrier of. An isolated case of a type of cancer in the family is not hereditary, nor is several family members having had different types of cancer. A sign that a cancer MAY be hereditary within a family is when several members of the same side of that family have had the SAME type of cancer (eg all had breast cancer, or all had colon cancer), especially if some developed it at a younger than usual age. With at least one in three people getting cancer at some point in their lives, it's not unusual for several members of the same extended family to have non-hereditary cancers. Often people think this means cancer 'runs in their family', but it doesn't. In my own family, two of my grandparents died of cancer. Both my parents had cancer and my mother died of it. So did my aunt, my uncle and my cousin. None of their cancers were hereditary, and no members of my immediate or extended family have ever been considered at increased risk of any of the cancers they had. Of my parents' 6 children, now from late 40s to early 60s, I am the only one who has developed cancer, and mine too was non-hereditary and unrelated to theirs. Diabetes; I am assuming that you are talking about type 2 diabetes? You can't develop type 2 diabetes unless you have hereditary 'diabetic genes', so in that sense it is hereditary. But diabetic genes are not enough to trigger diabetes on their own, there have to be other contributing factors. The biggest risk factor for type 2 diabetes is significant overweight and obesity. Avoiding that will do much to protect you from diabetes. It isn't the only risk factor; you are at increased risk of type 2 diabetes if, as well as having the necessary genes you are aged between 40 and 75 OR you are of Asian or African-Carribean origin OR you are significantly overweight OR you are a woman who has had a baby weighing more than 4kg Though these are the main risk factors, there are some other things that can trigger type 2 diabetes, eg steroid medicines. In my case it is thought possible that the steroids used in chemotherapy triggered my type2 diabetes, or pushed me 'over the edge' into diabetes (yes I know - half my luck, eh!) As I developed type 2 diabetes, it's clearly hereditary within my family; but no other members of my immediate or extended family has ever been diagnosed with it. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and is not hereditary.

Posted by: Kelle on 2010-02-08, 18:10:53

You can't be a carrier for cancer or diabetes. They are not sex-linked diseases. Sure , your odds are higher but that doesn't mean you will get either one. You are more likely to die in a car accident. Let it rest.