by Andrea Lutz

KTVB.COM

Posted on May 4, 2014 at 9:41 PM

Updated today at 11:04 PM

BOISE -- Modern medicine and early detection are helping women in the fight against breast cancer, but recently a decision in our nation's highest court has made it easier to afford the cost of genetic cancer testing.

The Saint Alphonsus Breast Cancer Center in Boise reports that one in 500 breast cancer cases women have what's called the BRCA gene mutation.

Saint Als Breast Surgeon Elizabeth Prier says knowledge of the BRCA gene has been around for the last decade, and identifying at-risk women has intesified in the last five years.

A lot of women with BRCA1 will end up with breast cancer in their 30s sometimes in their late 20s, said Dr. Prier.

That means women end up starting their fight with the disease earlier.

Annie Pierce, a wife and mother of two, ended her battle with breast cancer before it even started.

See more here:

Breast cancer test made famous by Angelina Jolie now more affordable