Thurgoona’s Melanie Hewson holds that thought when considering her risks of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

“And I’m not prepared to board that plane,” she said.

The nurse and mother of seven will undergo preventative surgery because she carries the BRCA1 gene, which increases the likelihood she will be diagnosed with cancer in the future.

She encourages other women to be proactive and learn more about their own health by completing a quick, anonymous online questionnaire that assesses their individual situations.

The Know Your Risk tool is an initiative of preventative health group Pink Hope, which estimates more than 600,000 Australian women have increased risks of breast and ovarian cancer but two out of three don’t know.

Mrs Hewson, who shared her story in The Australian Women’s Weekly, said support groups, screening, testing and medical advice were available to provide ongoing help as needed.

“If you don’t know that you’re high risk and you’re just going about your everyday life, I feel like you’ve got lots of ticking time bombs happening there,” she said.

She had suspected she carried the BRCA gene like her mother, who was tested in recent years after fighting both breast and ovarian cancer.

“My mother always used to say we’ve got all these women in our family who died of cancer and I used to think she was exaggerating,” she said. “Then when Mum got cancer I thought, ‘Oh my God, she was serious’.”

Wanting a big family and no regrets, Mrs Hewson and her husband of nearly 22 years, Scott, decided to wait just a little before testing.

“And when I had number seven, I had this unbelievable contentment that came over me,” she said. “I’m just so happy and blessed that I was able to have my family before finding out.”

In November, Mrs Hewson will have surgery to remove her ovaries, with a double mastectomy to follow once breastfeeding has finished.

Mr and Mrs Hewson have been open about the situation with children Samantha, 20, Jessica, 16, Hayden, 11, Liam, 6, Ryley, 4, Flynn, 2, and Casey, 9 months. 

Surgery is a choice and Mrs Hewson knows others may prefer regular screening instead.

“But I’m just one of these people that before going for an ultrasound or the mammogram I spend weeks and months worried … ‘Is this the time they’re going to find something?’,” she said. 

“And I don’t want that so I want to eliminate it, I want to basically try and get on with my life as best I can.”