The Platform
Chelsea Banta
Mrs. Castle Rock 2027
"Know Your Truth • Live Your Truth was born from experiences that changed my life and taught me just how powerful knowledge, authenticity, and courage can be."
— Chelsea Banta
As Mrs. Castle Rock 2027, Chelsea is spending her title year making sure no Colorado family hears the word "BRCA" for the first time in an oncologist's office. Through school and community appearances, partnerships with local health organizations, and this site, her platform turns awareness into something a person can actually do this week.
[HEADSHOT — replace this card with Chelsea's photo:
<img src="chelsea.jpg" alt="Chelsea Banta, Mrs. Castle Rock 2027">]
Chelsea's Journey
How this became my platform
[PLACEHOLDER — Chelsea's opening paragraph. Where the story starts: the family member, the diagnosis, the phone call, or the moment that made hereditary cancer stop being an abstraction. 3–4 sentences, first person.]
[PLACEHOLDER — The hard part. What she didn't know at the time, what she wishes someone had told her family sooner, and what it cost to find out the way she did. This is the paragraph that will make a stranger book a genetic counseling appointment, so it should be specific and it should be hers.]
[PLACEHOLDER — The turn. What she decided to do about it: the questions she asked, the testing decision, the conversations with relatives, the choices she made afterward. What "living her truth" looked like in practice.]
[PLACEHOLDER — Why the crown. What she intends to do with the Mrs. Castle Rock 2027 title year, and the one thing she wants a reader to do after finishing this page.]
[PLACEHOLDER — one short line from Chelsea in her own voice. The sentence people will quote back to her after an appearance.]
What it means
Two halves of one promise
Knowledge without action is just anxiety. Action without knowledge is just guessing. The platform asks for both.
Know Your Truth
Understanding your health and your risks
- Asking the hard questions
- Advocating for yourself
- Learning your family history
- Choosing to get tested
Live Your Truth
And then comes the most important part
Knowing is where it starts. Living it is where it counts.
A result on a page changes nothing by itself. Living your truth is the MRI you schedule, the conversation you have with your sister, the surgery you choose or decline on your own terms, the appointment you keep even when you'd rather not think about it.
It's also refusing to carry it quietly. Every person who says it out loud makes it easier for the next one.
About BRCA
You already have BRCA1 and BRCA2
BRCA stands for BReast CAncer gene — a misleading name for two of the body's best repair crews. Everyone is born with both. Their job is to fix broken DNA before damaged cells can multiply. They are tumor suppressors.
The problem isn't having the genes. It's inheriting a harmful variant that breaks the repair function. With one repair crew down, DNA damage accumulates faster, and the risk of certain cancers rises well above average — breast and ovarian most sharply, plus prostate, pancreatic, and male breast cancer.
BRCA1 variants
Carry the higher lifetime ovarian cancer risk of the two, and associated breast cancers are more often triple-negative. Risk rises earlier in life — enhanced screening typically begins around age 25.
BRCA2 variants
Strongly linked to male breast cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma — which is exactly why the men in a BRCA family need to test too. Fathers pass these variants as often as mothers.
The Numbers
The honest numbers
Lifetime risk by roughly age 70–80, from National Cancer Institute figures. Ranges reflect real variation across studies. A number is the start of a plan, not a verdict.
Breast cancer — lifetime risk, women
Ovarian cancer — lifetime risk, women
Men with BRCA2 variants face elevated risks of male breast cancer (roughly 7–8% lifetime, versus about 0.1% average), aggressive prostate cancer, and pancreatic cancer. BRCA is not a women's issue. It's a family issue.
Asking the hard questions
Signals worth taking seriously
Genetic testing isn't for everyone. But if any of these fit your family — on either side — it's worth a conversation with a genetic counselor.
- Breast cancer diagnosed at age 50 or younger, in you or a close relative
- Ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer at any age
- Male breast cancer at any age
- Triple-negative breast cancer, especially at or before age 60
- Multiple relatives on the same side with breast, ovarian, prostate, or pancreatic cancer
- A known BRCA or other hereditary cancer variant already identified in your family
- Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry with any personal or family history of these cancers
- Metastatic or high-risk prostate cancer, or pancreatic cancer, in you or a close relative
Know your protections before you test. In the U.S., the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) bars health insurers and most employers from using genetic test results against you. GINA does not cover life, disability, or long-term-care insurance — many people sort out those policies first. A genetic counselor will walk you through it.
Living it
A positive result opens doors
This is the whole argument for testing: every branch of this path either lowers risk or catches cancer earlier. None of it is available to someone who never found out.
Genetic counseling, before and after
A certified genetic counselor reads your family history, orders the right test — usually a multi-gene panel now, not BRCA alone — and turns the result into a plan. Telehealth counseling is widely available in Colorado.
Enhanced surveillance
For carriers: annual breast MRI starting around age 25, alternating with mammography from 30. The goal is finding anything at the earliest, most treatable stage.
Risk-reducing options, on your timeline
Preventive medication, risk-reducing mastectomy (lowers breast cancer risk by roughly 90% or more), and salpingo-oophorectomy (sharply lowers ovarian cancer risk, typically discussed between 35 and 45 after childbearing decisions). These are choices, not obligations.
Tell your family
Every first-degree relative of a carrier has a 50% chance of carrying the same variant. Sharing a result is the highest-leverage thing a carrier can do — one test can protect an entire family tree. Cascade testing letters and scripts exist to make the conversation easier.
Research & News
What's changing in BRCA science
Guidance moves. Screening ages shift, the list of associated cancers grows, and treatments arrive that didn't exist a decade ago.
Find Support
You don't do this alone
These organizations are the backbone of the hereditary cancer community — established, expert-reviewed, and free.
The largest hereditary cancer nonprofit. Peer navigators, message boards, and expert-reviewed guidelines — and the community that coined "previvor."
Penn Medicine's center devoted entirely to BRCA research, treatment, and education for carriers and their families.
The National Cancer Institute's authoritative, regularly updated reference — and the source of the risk figures on this page.
Search the National Society of Genetic Counselors directory by location or telehealth. This is the right first appointment.
Support for Jewish women and families facing breast and ovarian cancer risk — critical given founder mutation prevalence.
A global open database of BRCA variant classifications, for understanding what a specific test result actually means.