Two local radio personalities are set to appear on a nationaltelevision show Thursday to learn the results of a recent genetictest for a cancer gene.

By airing their personal stories, the pair hope others can bebetter informed when a doctor says the three words anyone wouldhate to hear – “You have cancer.”

For Carla Tigner, 44, and her father, conservationist andentertainer Paul Ott Carruth, 73, those words have hit home. Bothhave been diagnosed with breast cancer, and Tigner’s mother andCarruth’s wife, Alberta, died of ovarian cancer at an earlyage.

Because the three were diagnosed with cancer, Tigner’s andCarruth’s oncologist, Dr. Grace Shumaker, felt it was imperativefor them to be tested for the cancer genes BRCA 1 and BRCA 2.

“Both genes are related to breast and ovarian cancer,” Tignersaid.

Testing positive for either gene means the person is predisposedto certain types of cancer, which could give doctors a head starton a diagnosis and earlier treatment. A positive result means therecould also be implications for the person’s children.

Carruth was tested for the gene earlier this year when he wasdiagnosed with breast cancer. Schumaker suggested Tigner have thesame genetic testing when it was determined she had the disease in2005, but she delayed the move.

“I was overwhelmed with the cancer thing and I didn’t see thewhole relevance of testing at the time,” Tigner said.

Tigner said the doctors told them when men are diagnosed withbreast cancer, in particular, that they have a higher percentage ofbeing a carrier of one of the two genes.

Carruth’s tests showed he is a carrier of the BRCA 2 gene.

Tigner was tested during her last doctor’s visit on Oct. 1. Sheand Carruth will receive her test results on live television at8:09 a.m. Thursday on a segment of NBC’s “Today” show.

The pair will be interviewed by medical correspondent Dr. NancySnyderman.

Tigner’s and Carruth’s story first came to NBC’s attention whenWLBT 3 medical correspondent Stephanie Bell Flynt sent a tapedinterview to the network. She had conducted the interview inconjunction with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.Producers with NBC contacted Flynt, who passed along Tigner’s andCarruth’s phone numbers and an interview in New York was setup.

The show’s producer contacted Tigner and asked in a roundaboutway if she would mind if they received the results and read thethem live on TV. Tigner said it would be OK.

“I’ll be shocked if I’m not positive,” Tigner said of thetesting.

Tigner said they also wanted to interview her daughter DrewHolland Tigner, 16. Drew Holland has already had one lump removedfrom her breast.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Drew Holland was unavailable forthe interview.

“For a girl there’s a lot to think about,” said Tigner “Ourdoctor does not recommend having Drew Holland tested (for the gene)until she’s 25.”

Tigner said by that age maybe Drew Holland will have alreadygotten married or had children and then she can make decisionsregarding her health after that.

Will getting the news that she is a carrier of one of the genesmake any difference to Tigner? She thinks not.

“It does nothing to change my breast cancer,” Tigner said. “Formy dad, he will have a 5 percent chance of it recurring in hisother breast.”

Even so, Tigner said she wasn’t nervous about the results.

“You’re hoping it’s just something random so your childrenaren’t at risk,” said Tigner, who also has a son, Carr, 14.

Tigner explained to her children the pros and cons of theresults.

“The bad news is it will be a hassle for you the rest of yourlife,” she told them. “But you’ll never die from breast cancerbecause they’ll catch it early.”

Carruth and Tigner host a weekly radio show, “Listen To TheEagle.” It was on that show that Carruth first noticed somethingwrong in his chest.

“It was a Monday night and we were doing a radio show,” Tignerrecalled.

Tigner said she either bumped or nudged her father in the chestand her father said it was sore.

“We never imagined it would be breast cancer,” Tigner said. “Weeven joked about it.”

Carruth ended up having a mastectomy, a surgical procedure thatremoves the breast. Tigner said thankfully it was caught early andhad not gotten into her father’s lymph nodes.

“He didn’t have to have chemo or radiation,” she said.

Tigner was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2005 when shewas 42.

“Because of my mother’s history I chose bilateral mastectomy andreconstruction,” Tiger explained.

A bilateral mastectomy is the surgical removal of bothbreasts.

Ironically, Tigner’s mother, Alberta Carruth was diagnosed withovarian cancer when she was 42. Two years later she died of thedisease at age 44.

After Tigner’s surgery she went on to have chemotherapy, but notradiation, she said.

Although Tigner feels she is cancer free, the doctors won’tconsider her to be so until she has been symptom free for fiveyears.

At Tigner’s most recent doctor’s visit, she was told to comeback in six months, which signals the tapering off of testing anddoctor visits, she explained. She had been seeing the doctor everythree months.

“The highest reoccurrence is in the first two years,” Tignersaid of the disease. “I’ve passed that.”