Hayley Minn had both breasts removed and reconstructed in February 2019, at the age of 27, despite never having had cancer, after genetic tests revealed she carried a faulty BRCA1 gene that put her risk of developing breast cancer far above average.
The BRCA1 mutation sharply raises a woman's risk of breast cancer and also increases the likelihood of ovarian cancer. Minn learned she carried the faulty gene four years before her surgery, after her father, Eliot, now 64, tested positive in 2013 following the breast cancer diagnosis of his cousin in her 50s.
Eliot's own mother, Hannah, died of breast cancer in her 40s when he was eight years old. Children of a BRCA carrier, whether the mother or the father, have a 50 per cent chance of inheriting the faulty gene.
Paternal inheritance of BRCA mutations is often overlooked, particularly in families with few female relatives to reveal a pattern of disease. A study by Boston College found that women who inherited a BRCA mutation from their mother were almost three times more likely to be tested proactively, before any cancer diagnosis, than those who inherited it from their father.
A diagnosis that changed everything
Minn had a blood test in March 2015 and sat with her parents at Barnet Hospital in north London to receive the results. A genetic counsellor told her she was "80 per cent more likely to get breast cancer."
Her father broke down as the news was delivered. "It's my fault," he said. Minn, then 23, asked him to leave the room and decided in that moment that she would have a mastectomy.
Minn is one of many women to make that calculation after a positive BRCA test. One of the largest UK studies, which followed more than 7,000 cancer-free women at increased risk of breast cancer for up to 32 years, found that among those carrying faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, almost half opted for a double mastectomy within 20 years.
Planning the reconstruction
Minn was referred to breast surgeon Fawzia Imtiaz Crosbie at Barnet Hospital, who questioned whether 23 was too young for the operation and asked whether Minn had considered that she would not be able to breastfeed. The pair settled on Minn having the surgery at 27, a decision reinforced by the blog of journalist Lisa Lynch, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 28 and died of the disease in 2013 aged 33.
Crosbie continued to see Minn for check-ups before referring her to plastic surgeon Dan Marsh to plan the reconstruction, which Minn chose to have carried out at the same time as the mastectomy, known as immediate reconstruction. This is now offered on the NHS to most women having a mastectomy, and around half of women under 50 having the operation choose it.
Marsh talked Minn through options including deep inferior epigastric perforator flap reconstruction, which uses skin and fat from the lower abdomen to build new breasts. Minn did not have enough fat to keep her breasts at her previous size, a 34D, using that method, so she chose implants instead. Marsh also pointed out that one of her breasts was bigger than the other and offered to fix that too.
Minn chose to keep her nipples, for which the risk of cancer developing is estimated at under 5 per cent. It was a similar choice to the one made by actress Angelina Jolie, who revealed in 2013 that she carried a faulty BRCA1 gene and had a preventive double mastectomy with nipple-sparing reconstruction.
A 'Bye Bye Boobs' party
Before the operation, Minn's mother threw her a "Bye Bye Boobs" party, with afternoon tea, boob-shaped cupcakes and scones for around 20 friends and relatives. Guests made a plaster cast of Minn's breasts, which still sits in her parents' living room.
Minn had her surgery at the Royal Free Hospital in north London on February 13, 2019. She was shaking and crying before going into theatre, so the surgical team played the Ariana Grande song "thank u, next" to calm her down.
Recovery and setbacks
After waking from surgery, Minn wanted to speak to her boyfriend of four months, Will, who is now her husband. She insisted on being discharged the same day despite being drowsy from painkillers, a decision she later called a mistake: that night she fell to the floor in agony and had to be helped up by both her parents.
She had been sent home with antibiotics but no prescription painkillers, relying instead on ibuprofen and paracetamol. Crosbie visited her at home the next day with stronger co-codamol to ease the pain. Unable to lift her arms or get her stitches wet, Minn relied on her mother for basic care for several days.
Her best friend, Urwi, met Will for only the second time while Minn lay in bed unwell. Afterwards Urwi told her: "This is the worst I've ever seen you look, he's a keeper!"
Living with the results
When Minn first looked at her chest in the mirror she cried, but as the swelling subsided the scarring proved minimal, leaving two semicircles above her nipples that she says are barely noticeable today. Crosbie told her she had deliberately chosen that scar placement over under-breast semicircles so a young Minn would not feel self-conscious in a bikini.
Minn now volunteers for breast cancer charity CoppaFeel!, giving talks in offices and schools about checking breasts and pecs. She says reconstructed breasts can look lumpy, rippled or uneven, including her own at times, and that a stranger once messaged her after an Instagram video to ask if she had checked her breasts after noticing what turned out to be rippling around her implant.
Faulty BRCA genes are far more common in the Ashkenazi Jewish community, of which Minn is part: around one in 40 carries one, compared with about one in 140 Sephardi Jews and one in 250 in the wider UK population. That disparity prompted the NHS to launch a free saliva testing programme in England for adults with at least one Jewish grandparent. More than 44,000 people registered before applications closed in 2025, and more than 700 carriers were identified.
Minn says the biggest downside is that she will not be able to breastfeed future children, adding that watching her best friends breastfeed has made her sad the choice was taken from her. Her nipples are now more sensitive than before, rather than less as she had been warned, and become painfully cold in air-conditioned offices, sometimes requiring painkillers.
