UK
As a father with BRCA gene, I’m glad NHS scheme let my children be tested
Jewish family who have benefited from the pilot programme welcome its resumption
December 22, 2025 11:34
Jewish family who have benefited from the pilot programme welcome its resumption
December 22, 2025 11:34Adam Kramer is relieved that his daughters have been able to test for BRCA through the NHS pilot programme, knowing he carries the gene and that there was a 50 per cent chance of it being inherited.
He tested positive in 2012 when he was being treated for an unrelated cancer. His sister had been diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 22 and was later found to be a carrier, as was his father.
The 60-year-old from Mill Hill, north London (pictured right with his family) told the JC: “When I found out that I had the BRCA gene, my dad said how guilty he felt about passing it on to me, and I felt overwhelmingly guilty about the possibility I might have passed it on to my children.”
He discussed his concerns with Chai Cancer Care and decided to wait until his children were adults before telling them.
He said: “I spent a lot of time speaking to Chai about how we were going to tell them. When we told our kids, they were initially resistant to being tested. But when the NHS testing programme was launched, it helped normalise the situation and they signed up.”
Daughter Yasmine, 24, recalls getting the letter with her results several months after sending off her sample. She waited a week to open it, afraid of what it might say.
She told the JC: “I remember standing in my room with my mum, my dad, and my boyfriend, and I was so scared.
“But then I opened the letter and it said: ‘You don’t have it,’ and I burst into tears – I couldn’t believe it. I was so overwhelmed, and my parents both burst into tears.”
Her sister Izzy, 23, said she felt “incredibly anxious” as she waited for her result after Yasmine had found out she was clear. With a one-in-two chance of a child of a carrier also having the gene, she feared the worst: “As Yasmine was found not to have the mutation, given the statistics, I was preparing to be told I would have it.”
The test result revealed she too was not a BRCA carrier, which “lifted such a massive weight off my shoulders”.
Izzy has a cousin who tested positive for the gene and is taking preventative measures. “For now, she is having scans and will have a double mastectomy in the future. If she hadn’t found out she was BRCA positive, in a few years’ time, it could have been too late.”
Izzy welcomes the news that the testing programme is being continued, saying: “It gives people the power to be proactive – and saves lives.”
Adam said that discovering neither of his daughters was a carrier filled him with “unadulterated joy. It was almost like a liberation from the physical weight of guilt I was carrying.”
He paid tribute to Chai Cancer Care, which also supported his children as they came to their decision about whether to get tested.
“It really takes the pressure off the parents. We felt like we were sharing the burden,” he said.
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