4 People, 1 Family: Battling Breast Cancer Together
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) —A Willow Grove family is celebrating life despite a group battle with breast cancer.
Chris Koniers is dictating for a book about his battle with breast cancer. He's writing it with his wife Franny who also had breast cancer.
Their story is about the power of knowledge, the joy of love and finding silver linings even when faced with bad news from doctors.
Some might, considering that not only does the Willow Grove couple coincidently share a history of breast cancer, but so do their daughters, who both tested positive for the BRCA-2 gene.
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"I do feel in a way Vicki and I were blessed because we were able to find out and take proactive steps," said Christine Edwin.
They both decided to have prophylactic mastectomies to reduce the risk of eventually developing breast cancer.
"I'm glad we're all close and supportive of each other," said Vicki Previti, Christine's sister.
There's tons of family support and happy distractions with five rambunctious grandchildren.
Chris' cancer has spread to his lungs, liver and eye but he's making sure to enjoy every moment.
"Chris has a wonderful attitude about it so that makes life a lot easier," said his wife.
"Relentless is the word that comes to mind because it's been like my mom had recurrence then my dad had recurrence it just feels like it's been tough," says Christine.
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And they worry about the little kids inheriting the cancer gene which came from Chris.
"That really bothered me for a while that I pass something on that could be dangerous to my children," said Chris.
Instead of dwelling on their bad luck, this family is focused on raising awareness about the importance of early detection.
Chris and his family have been very involved with the Komen organization, first as a resource and now they're especially interested in awareness and research for metastatic breast cancer.
