We are very grateful to all of you who have contacted us in recent months and for wishing to participate in our PALB2 study. Thank you for getting in touch and sharing your stories with us. We would also like to thank you for your kind words of appreciation. Julie wrote:
‘Thanks so much for working so hard for the patients and clinicians that benefit from all of your research and collaboration!’
Another participant said:
‘Thank you for your time and for the work that you do. Reviewing my family history has been alarming and saddening, but I find a great deal of comfort in knowing that we now have better tools for understanding and managing cancer risks’.
We promise to continue with our work on PALB2. Our mission is to:
- better understand how PALB2 mutations cause cancer
- provide more accurate and comprehensive information to those families with PALB2 mutations
- help future generations
One of the biggest challenges PALB2 mutation carriers are facing is coping with the feeling of anxiety and uncertainty about the future. Some of you have been asking questions about PALB2 that unfortunately cannot be answered fully because we know much less about PALB2 gene and PALB2 mutations are rarer. By recruiting families with PALB2 mutations to our research program we hope to do bigger studies which will help us to learn more about the gene and give more accurate risk figures over time. We can only find out more with your support.
Would our study be beneficial to you personally in any way? Taking part in our PALB2 study is voluntary and there is no problem if you don’t want to participate. We agree that taking part in our study may not have a direct benefit to you but by participating you will help us to learn more about PALB2 gene so we can help future generations. Also, we would like to reassure you that any information you share with us is strictly confidential and will only be accessible to our immediate study team.
If you have a confirmed PALB2 mutation or/and others in your family have been found to have a PALB2 mutation, please contact us. Thank you.