Summer means backyard cookouts, lake or beach trips, and family reunions – the kind of gatherings where cousins you haven’t seen in years end up standing around the same folding table. It’s easy small talk territory.
It’s also one of the best opportunities all year to ask a question that could change someone’s life: Has anyone in our family had cancer, and at what age?
That question is at the heart of identifying Lynch syndrome – and the summer months, with no shortage of family gatherings on the calendar, is a good time to bring it up.
Why family history is the first clue
Lynch syndrome is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means it runs in families whether anyone realizes it or not. A pattern of certain cancers – colorectal, uterine, urinary tract, ovarian, and others – showing up across generations, especially at younger ages than typical, is often the first real signal that a family may be carrying a Lynch syndrome gene.
The catch is that this pattern only becomes visible when people actually compare notes. A grandmother’s colon cancer at 45, an uncle’s diagnosis at 50, a cousin’s uterine cancer in her 30s. Taken separately, these can look unrelated. But when put side by side, they form a pattern worth investigating.
Most families never make that comparison. Health history tends to live in fragments, scattered across relatives who don’t talk to each other regularly, or held onto by an older generation that may not be around forever to ask.
Steve never got the chance to ask
Steve Mayberry lost his battle with colon cancer in 2010 at age 50. He never knew he had Lynch syndrome. If that family pattern had been pieced together and recognized earlier, he may have been afforded the opportunity to take preventive steps. Mayberry Memorial exists because of that gap between what could have been known and what actually was. A staggering 95% of Previvors do not know they have an inherited mutation in a DNA mismatch repair gene that puts them at a greater risk of early-developing aggressive forms of cancer.
That’s the real value of a reunion conversation – not diagnosing anyone on the spot, but identifying the pattern that a doctor or genetic counselor can act on.
What to actually ask
You don’t need to turn the cookout into a clinical intake form. A few honest, casual questions go a long way:
- Has anyone in the family had colorectal, uterine, ovarian, urinary tract, or stomach cancer?
- How old were they when they were diagnosed?
- Has anyone had multiple different cancers over their lifetime?
- Has anyone been told they have Lynch syndrome or done genetic testing?
Take a note on your phone. The goal is simply to have the information gathered in one place instead of scattered across memory.
What to do with the answers
Once you’ve gathered a few answers, there’s a simple guideline doctors use to flag families who may want to look further into hereditary cancer risk. It’s formally known as the Amsterdam criteria, though it’s often remembered by its easier shorthand: the 3-2-1 rule.
- 3 relatives with the same or related cancers
- 2 generations affected
- 1 relative diagnosed before age 50
If your family’s history checks those boxes – even loosely – that’s a strong signal worth bringing to a doctor or genetic counselor. It doesn’t mean someone in your family definitely has Lynch syndrome, but it does mean the pattern is worth a closer look. They can help determine whether genetic testing makes sense for you and your family.
This is exactly where Project Conquer, Mayberry Memorial’s flagship program, comes in. We help people who are at elevated risk access the genetic counseling and testing they need, and work to remove the barriers – cost, access, uncertainty about where to start – that keep people from taking that first step.
One conversation, passed down
A family history conversation doesn’t end with you. Once you know your own risk, that knowledge becomes something you can pass to your children, your siblings, your cousins – the same way it should have been passed to you.
So this July, between the burgers and the small talk, ask the question. It might be the most important thing said at the whole gathering.
If your family’s history raises questions about Lynch syndrome, Project Conquer can help connect you with genetic counseling and testing. Learn more or become an advocate.