Family Medical History

“You have cancer.”  Scary words.  That was 9 years ago and all is well.  However, those words have heightened my interest in family medical history.  I was intrigued to learn about a government website: https://familyhistory.hhs.gov.  What I was surprised to learn, after in putting information, was that there was no way to save it or to print it.  While it is useful to see trends, I would have to input all the information again if anything should change (new diagnoses in my living relatives).

I do however, see the value of having a medical history family tree.  Many years ago, as I was updating addresses for my extended family, I asked about medical information.  And as I suspected, very few cousins responded to my inquiry.  Why?  The information is personal and many people don’t want to know if their genes carry a time bomb. I have mixed feelings on this- one the one hand, I would want to know if my kids had a predisposition to any disease because of my family history.  On the other hand, if I could not do anything about the situation, then what good would it do me to know? 

There are also several companies that specialize in online genetic testing.  As I see it, the question is: is the company truly legit and will I get scientific information or is this just another scheme to get me to part with my money. 

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 Image: TerraVox