A story turned devastatingly personal

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This article was published 18/01/2025 (629 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg-born reporter Alison Hall was diagnosed with breast cancer after covering actress Olivia Munn’s diagnosis.

Hall, 33, from River Heights, was reporting on Munn’s health scare and subsequent double mastectomy for U.S. newsmagazine Inside Edition.

Munn was diagnosed after using the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT), which showed she had a lifetime risk of 37 per cent for getting breast cancer.

Hall, who is based in New York City, took the same test during an on-camera interview with a breast cancer doctor at Lennox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. She was told her lifetime risk for breast cancer was 36 per cent.

Women are classified as high risk for developing breast cancer if they have a lifetime risk of 20 per cent or higher.

Now Hall, who underwent a double mastectomy last Tuesday, wants to raise awareness of the tool.

Also known as the Gail Model, the online calculator uses a woman’s personal medical and reproductive history alongside the history of breast cancer among first-degree relatives (mothers, sisters, daughters). Those factors are used to estimate her risk of developing invasive breast cancer over the next five years, and her estimated lifetime risk up to the age of 90.

Hall had never heard of BCRAT before working on the story. Although typically administered by health-care professionals, the online test can be accessed by anyone.

“Because of my test result, my doctor was able to push for early screening. I was able to get a mammogram and an ultrasound, which revealed I had extremely dense breasts so a breast MRI was scheduled for six months later in October 2024,” she said.

On a mammogram, a cancerous tumour and dense breast tissue both present as white, creating a masking effect in women with dense breasts.

Hall’s doctor advised she should be on a regular screening schedule from then on.

“Being 32 at the time, I thought I would get multiple MRIs in my life and never get cancer. I was feeling really good and put it out of my mind,” she said.

“I was not expecting that it would change my life so quickly.”

However, the MRI results revealed the presence of cancerous cells, and Hall was diagnosed with stage zero breast cancer, also known as ductal carcinoma in situ. In DCIS, the cells that line the milk ducts turn cancerous but have not spread to the surrounding breast tissue.

Hall was not prepared for the swift diagnosis.

“I was not expecting that it would change my life so quickly. It would be nice if I didn’t have to go through it at all but also really amazing that it’s been caught so early when I have the opportunity to deal with it while I am young and healthy.

“I think some people might go, ‘Whoa a double mastectomy for stage zero seems like a lot’ but I think it’s important to note that being a young woman diagnosed with breast cancer this young, it’s really important for me not only to deal with the current cancer, but to reduce my risk down dramatically so that hopefully I never ever have to have those words, ‘You have breast cancer’ said to me again,” she said.

The BCRAT was created by Dr. Mitchell Gail, an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and a principal investigator at the National Cancer Institute. His research focuses on creating models for determining absolute risk of diseases.

The online calculator can be accessed at bcrisktool.cancer.gov.

“Several tools have been validated for use in breast cancer risk assessment. These tools can be used by screening programs to invite and recall participants to screening, for breast-cancer surveillance, and in high-risk cancer programs.

“While the tools are publicly available, they are not typically used on their own. Instead, they are usually combined with a clinical assessment and imaging, for example mammography,” a spokesperson from CancerCare Manitoba said.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca