Currently, Cynthia conducts workshops, seminars and speaks at
conferences on topics including but not limited to: The Impact of
Thank You, Networking: Conversations with Customers, and U Matter No
Matter What. Additionally, she writes a column for weekly newspapers
in southern Utah and is a southern Utah correspondent for Desert News.
Her column, “GR8NESS,” appears at deseretnews.com monthly. She also
conducts success coaching for individuals and teams.

In 1994, the five Kimball sisters - Wendi, Cynthia, Kristy, Tammy and
Jennifer –embarked on a frightening journey. It began with Cynthia,
then a 30-year-old newlywed living in Japan, discovering a lump in her
left breast. “When they told me I had cancer, I just lost it,” Cynthia
says. “I was in the best shape of my life. I thought this happens to
older people, or other people.”

Four years later, it was Kristy’s turn. Then Wendi’s.

“I was very angry,” says Shelby, the girls’ mother “I couldn’t
understand. Why was this happening to my family?”

The Kimball’s struggled to answer why - was it in the water? What they
ate? Chemicals they’d been exposed to? Finally, on their doctor’s
advice, they got genetic testing to find out if they had the so-called
breast cancer gene - a defect that raises the chance of getting breast
cancer - and at a young age - to as high as 85%. It also raises the
risk of getting ovarian cancer to 40%. The results? They defied the
odds - and not in a good way. Not only did Wendi, Cynthia and Kristy
have the gene, so did younger sisters Tammy and Jennifer, both of whom
have not gotten breast cancer yet. The kicker: They got it from their
father - an often-overlooked source when it comes to inheriting the
breast cancer gene.

Knowing “was almost a relief,” says Kristy. “But I wish I’d known. I
know I would have had prophylactic [preventative] surgery. Maybe I
wouldn’t have had to go through this.”

Admits Shelby: “I didn’t want them to do the genetic test at first. If
I didn’t really know, it was like maybe it’s not true. But that’s like
living in a fantasy world… I was relieved because at last we knew
where it was coming from. It gave us a game plan.”

Wendi, Cynthia and Kristy have all had double mastectomies,
hysterectomies, their ovaries removed, chemotherapy, radiation and
reconstructive surgery. Tammy, who has not gotten breast cancer, has
had a double mastectomy, which is 90% effective in preventing the
disease. And Jennifer, the youngest, is monitoring herself very
closely for any signs of cancer. They also are keeping an eye on the
next generation, knowing they could have passed the breast cancer gene
on to their sons and daughters.

In 2004, a decade after that first devastating diagnosis, the Kimball
sisters and their parents started the Kimball Family Foundation to
help families with a hereditary gene mutation - research is the
answer.

“I think this has happened to us for a reason,” says Wendi. “God wants
us to use it to reach people. There are so many resources and people
who can help and we feel research is the answer to finding a cure.”