Read time: 6 minutes
Takeaways:
- Li-Fraumeni syndrome is a genetic condition that increases the risk of several types of cancer.
- Huntsman Cancer Institute genetic counselors helped Jenni and Bryce Thompson prevent passing on Li-Fraumeni syndrome.
Impact: Through genetic counseling, Huntsman Cancer Institute empowers families with inherited cancer risk to make informed choices, shaping healthier futures across generations.
The brothers arrive at their mom鈥檚 house in Lehi with a basketful of dirty laundry. There鈥檚 the aroma of tacos cooking in the kitchen, and the feeling of comfort. Chewy, the family鈥檚 Teacup Yorkshire Terrier, is a tiny bundle of fur welcoming them. Their sister, Sage, will arrive, soon.
The siblings are triplets. Family dinners are a tradition they look forward to, especially now that they all live away for college. But this is no ordinary night, and this is no ordinary family.
After the devastating loss of their father as adolescents, all three of the Thompson triplets, Sage, Davin, and Creed, earned NCAA Division I All-American honors in 2022 in their individual college sports, a jaw-dropping accomplishment that likely has never been done before.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 say I鈥檓 shocked because they worked so hard, and they have their whole lives,鈥 says Jenni Thompson, their mother. 鈥淏ut the stars all had to align perfectly for it to happen.鈥
The triplets lost their father, Bryce Thompson, to cancer when they were just 11 years old. He had Li-Fraumeni syndrome (LFS), a genetic condition that increases the risk of developing many different types of cancer. People who have LFS have a 50% chance of passing it on to their children. About one in 5,000 to one in 20,000 people worldwide have LFS. Of this population, 50% of them develop cancer by age 40, and up to 90% have cancer by age 60, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Bryce passed away eight months after doctors diagnosed him with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a cancer in which the bone marrow makes abnormal myeloblasts, a type of white blood cell, and red blood cells, or platelets.
鈥淢y mind was a spinning vortex of despair, and the future just seemed so heavy,鈥 Jenni says. 鈥淚 didn't know how we were going to carry on.鈥
His passing hit the family hard. But Jenni found strength in a vow she made. 鈥淚 promised him I would do my best to get out of bed, have hope, and show my kids I was going to continue living and be motivated,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 made a goal that year to run a full and a half marathon and to get my personal best times on each. I achieved those goals. I hope by doing that, it helped my kids see they don't have to feel guilty for still wanting to have goals and dreams and working towards them. And that's what Bryce would want for them.鈥
It's safe to say Jenni and her kids not only kept that promise but far exceeded it. Davin and Creed are cross-country runners at Brigham Young University, and Sage is a gymnast at the (the U). By some estimates, only 7% of high school athletes go on to play a varsity sport in college and less than 2% of high school athletes go on to play at NCAA Division I schools. The odds of all three winning the prestigious title of All-American may be incalculable considering only the top 40 overall finishers at the national cross-country meet are named to the All-American team. And in women鈥檚 gymnastics, only the top eight finishers in each event win All-American status at nationals. Yet, they did it.
High-achieving athleticism is a family standard. Their older brother, Kade, age 21, was a nine-time Utah State Wrestling Champion, and an eight-time USA Wrestling All-American. He left the sport when Bryce passed away.
But the odds haven鈥檛 always been in the family鈥檚 favor. Bryce and Jenni learned he had LFS when their oldest child, Kade, was seven months old. Knowing their baby had a 50% chance of also having LFS was nerve-wracking, and it took them four years to get the courage to have Kade tested. Fortunately, he was negative. They wanted to have more kids, but they never wanted to go through that again. The couple worked with genetic counselors at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the who advised them of their options for eliminating the risk of passing on the gene.
Then, a fertility center helped them conceive through in vitro fertilization (IVF), after completing a process called preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Scientists tested the couples鈥 embryos for the genetic mutation, and only implanted ones negative for the gene.
鈥淭his is the ultimate prevention for families with Li-Fraumeni syndrome,鈥 says Wendy Kohlmann, MS, genetic counselor at Huntsman Cancer Institute. 鈥淲e can't cure every type of cancer. Screening can help us find things earlier, when it may be more treatable, but it's not a guarantee. Sometimes cancers happen in a part of the body where we can't treat it.鈥
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is available through 麻豆学生精品版 and many IVF centers in the community. Kohlmann says it can be unaffordable for some families. This is also a very personal decision, and some who carry the gene choose not to test embryos because of religious or other reasons. 鈥淚t is our goal to give families information about their options so they can decide the right path for them, and to be a resource for research and cancer screening for people with Li-Fraumeni syndrome,鈥 she says.
鈥淚t is our goal to give families information about their options so they can decide the right path for them."
But it was the right decision for Jenni and Bryce. 鈥淥ur kids don't have that disease looming over their head, that dark cloud,鈥 Jenni says. 鈥淭hey lost their dad. They've lost a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins, which has been extremely difficult. But I wanted them, and future generations, to be part of the general population when it came to cancer risk.鈥
Through it all, Jenni has had to dig deep to find resilience after loss. 鈥淎s time goes on, even though it always hurts, you realize how strong the human spirit is, and how much you can conquer,鈥 Jenni says. 鈥淚 started believing that my mind, and soul, were capable of continuing and being happy and finding joy. I learned to live for myself and for the people who were no longer with me.鈥
Kohlmann knew Bryce well and finds the triplets鈥 accomplishments bittersweet. 鈥淚t breaks my heart that he can鈥檛 see this because he would be so proud of them.鈥
But the triplets believe their late father is aware somehow. They still get strength from him in small and big ways, they say.
鈥淲hen I'm on our cross-country course, and I'm hurting, and I'm suffering and tired, I think of how he was feeling in the hospital,鈥 says Davin. 鈥淚 guarantee he was feeling worse. It makes me feel a little better trying to push through the pain for him.鈥
Sage says, 鈥淗e still inspires us to push ourselves to be better, and to not let anything, any trial, crush all the hard work that we've done. He was always a strong person and hard worker, and he fought so hard for his family. He inspired me to always fight harder.鈥