A science teacher was stunned to receive a terrifying diagnosis the same week she taught her students about the genetic fault that turned out to be causing her disease.
Sophie Collis was tested for a gene mutation, despite having no family history of cancer, after her doctor brother encouraged the family to get checked.
The 32-year-old was shocked when she tested positive for BRCA1, which significantly increases a person’s risk of developing cancer.
She became vigilant to changes in her body, and was horrified when she found a lump in her breast – which turned out to be an aggressive form of breast cancer.
Incredibly, Sophie had been teaching her students about the very same gene fault that caused her cancer around the time of her diagnosis.
“I wasn’t expecting it [the diagnosis] at all and had really convinced myself that I didn’t have cancer because it was so unlikely in someone of my age and with no family history,” Sophie, from Brixton, London, told Need To Know.
“It was quite a shock.
“The families I teach about when we cover BRCA at school are the typical families with lots of breast and ovarian cancer through generations and that wasn’t us.
“It was very strange because I actually ended up teaching lessons both the week of and the week after my diagnosis all about cancer – with this just happening to be when the curriculum had those lessons.
“In some ways it was really challenging teaching those lessons from an emotional point of view, but in other ways other ways it really emphasised to me the importance of kind of sharing that information with my students.”
Within a week of learning she carried the gene mutation, Sophie spoke to a genetic counsellor, who advised she check areas of her body, including her breasts, for lumps.
Shortly after, she found a lump, and was diagnosed with cancer in November 2024.
Sophie, who teaches sixth form students, went on to have chemotherapy for six months, as well as a mastectomy and lymph node removal.
She said: “I’ve been really lucky in how I responded in that I had a total response and I’m now cancer free and I haven’t had too many side-effects.
“Even when I didn’t have very much immune system, I was still coming into the school I work and once a week and I managed to avoid getting any infections.”
Sophie was tested via the NHS Jewish BRCA programme, established as people of Ashkenazi Jewish descent have a one in 40 chance of carrying the mutation, compared to one in
Data recently released by Ovarian Cancer Action found that up to 10% of all cancer are liked to a genetic fault that can be passed from one generation to the next.
Ovarian, breast, prostate, pancreatic, bowel and womb are some of the cancer types you’re more likely to get if you carry a BRCA gene fault or have Lynch syndrome.
But despite the risks, they found that 75% of the general public have never heard of BRCA and 84% of people have never heard of Lynch syndrome – and are unaware that a family history of cancer could put them at risk of these genetic faults.
Sophie added: “After my cancer diagnosis, many of my cousins decided to take the test and in all, eight of us in my immediate family tested positive.
“The knowledge has been really useful for the whole family.
“I would never have thought I was at an increased risk, but having Jewish grandparents was clearly enough for that risk to be there, even without a family history of cancer.
“And knowing about it meant I caught my cancer early and could be cured of it.”
