For most of my life, I gave approximately zero thought to my pancreas. Honestly, even after working in healthcare for two decades, I couldn't have given you a particularly impressive explanation of everything it did. I knew where it was—more or less. I knew it had something to do with insulin and digestion. And I knew one other rather ominous thing: If you got cancer in your pancreas, you were a goner. Or so I thought. Then cancer showed up in mine. And eight years later, aft

There are things about ourselves we choose to know, things we would rather not know, and things we don't even realize are available for us to know. Genetics can fall somewhere in the middle. Some people are eager to know everything their DNA might reveal. Others understandably wonder whether knowing would simply give them something else to worry about. I understand both perspectives. But I have come to see genetic information somewhat differently. I don't think of it as a pre