About Lesley Murphy
While living in Argentina, travel journalist and The Bachelor show alum Lesley Murphy, learned her mom had breast cancer and carried the BRCA2 gene mutation, increasing her own risk.
Following her mother’s successful treatment at the UAMS Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute (mom is 10 years cancer-free!), Lesley and her sister underwent genetic testing at UAMS and learned they, too, carried the BRCA2 gene.
Only 29 at the time, Lesley consulted with UAMS cancer geneticist and breast surgeon, Dr. Daniela Ochoa, on what to do. To safeguard her health, she decided to have a preventive double mastectomy, which reduced her cancer risk by four to five times that of a woman without the mutation.
Today, Lesley is living the beautiful, wonderful chaos of motherhood and family life she always envisioned. On May 3, Lesley will rally cancer survivors, patients and their families as emcee of the 5th Annual Be A Part of the Cure Walk, hoping to inspire others to get involved in the fight against cancer.
“Everyone at UAMS was so nurturing, comforting and knowledgeable. I met them as geneticists, nurses and doctors, and I walked out of the Cancer Institute on that final day with them feeling like family!”