Age 47, Maryland Age 41 at time of surgery “I was one of the first women to be tested for the BRCA mutation in 1999. I don’t have a glaring family history, but my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 40s, and enrolled in a study of Ashkenazi Jews with premenopausal breast cancer. She convinced me to participate, and I went in for testing. Back then it took three months to get results, but I wasn’t full of anxiety because I didn’t really think I would test positive. But when the genetic counselor called me to inform me I should come in for my test results, the tone of her voice told me everything.  At the time, I was in my early thirties, and I decided to put off drastic measures until after I had kids. But as I neared my 40s, I had to go in for a biopsy, and although it wasn’t cancerous, I suddenly felt less invincible.  I decided to get the bilateral double mastectomy and reconstruction with expanders, but in the couple of days leading up to the surgery, I started to panic. I called a friend who had breast cancer at the time, and she laid into me, saying, ‘you do not want to be like me. If I could do what you are doing, I’d do it in a heartbeat.’  Even though I was well prepared, after the surgery, you have feelings you don’t anticipate. I felt incredibly relieved, but also a sense of loss at losing body parts. It takes time to feel like yourself. My children have a 50% chance of carrying the gene mutation, and although my 10-year-old son is not ready to talk about it, my 13-year-old daughter is fully aware. She knows it’s not something we need to think about yet, but she’s not scared.”  Lisa is pictured with her daughter Rachel, age 13.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, TIME photographed 15 women who chose to have preventative double mastectomies after learning they carry the BRCA1 or…