I am what is known as a previvor, meaning someone who is not diagnosed with cancer, but has a higher risk of cancer due to a certain genetic mutation. At the end of 2004, I went for my routine exam, and due to the fact that I lost my mother to ovarian cancer and my grandmother had breast cancer, I asked my doctor what my risk was. I had a test done to see if I had a genetic mutation. Four weeks later, the results came back and the doctor told me I had the genetic mutation BRCA 2, which greatly increased my risk of developing cancer.

The posts keep Marcia in touch with her support network at FORCE. The group of cancer survivors and "previvors" provides constant feedback, advice, information and love for each other.

At the beginning of this ordeal — when Friedman's doctor told her she had "precancer," the earliest stages of the disease — she began looking for support groups. … Friedman calls her target audience "previvors;" they don't have cancer, but there's a strong chance they might. "It's a very isolating thing because at this point there aren't a lot of women out there who have been tested" for cancer genes, Friedman said.