Your Medical Heritage

Overview

While her father was hospitalized for cancer of the prostate, television journalist Carol Krause and her sisters made a count of all the family members who had passed away, and came to a shocking conclusion: a large number of them had died of cancer. She began to research her family history, an important part of which was sending away for family death certificates. The information she discovered in this search ended up saving her own life as well as the lives of other family members: she herself was diagnosed with colon cancer and was able to have it treated early on. In the studio segment, hosts Jim and Terry Willard discuss with geneticists Dr. Raymond White and Vickie Venne the advantages to building a medical family pedigree in addition to a family pedigree, and the proper way to interpret the information resulting from this type of search.