A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery by Lawrence Ingrassia
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The author is a member of a large family that has Li-Fraumeni Syndrome (LFS). That rare condition is the presence in the family genes of a specific genetic mutation on what is known as p53. The result is that many family members have cancers and die young. There are treatments for the various cancers that arise, but not for the presence of the defective gene itself. This book describes the discovery of the mutation and how it works, or doesn’t, to allow cancer. I say it this way because p53 is not a cancer-causing gene, but a cancer-fighting gene. The mutation prevents the gene from fighting any number of cancers that might arise in the body from other causes, such as environmental ones. There are many stories in the book of families with this syndrome and how the cancers brought about so much sadness and suffering, so it’s not for the faint of heart. The author is a former editor and the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, so the book is well-researched and well-written. It is an easy read in one sense but a hard read emotionally. He is one of the family members who did not inherit the faulty gene, but he has experienced the loss of many of his family members and watched them suffer through the surgeries and chemo and radiation treatments. Apparently to this day, even many oncologists are unfamiliar with LFS. The book is worth reading for those with a curiosity about medical progress or cancer.