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Hillel Nannis was born approximately 1930 in Vilnius, Lithuania. He had 6 children, 5 of whom immigrated and settled in New England in the latter half of the 19th Century.
In 1994 it was discovered that 3 of Hillel's children carried the Ashkanazi mutatation (185delAG) of the BrCa1 gene. (Either Hillel or his wife carried the gene. Since his first wife died in her 30's of an unknown cause, this represents circumstantial evidence that perhaps she had the BrCa1 gene, and died young from breast or ovarian cancer. Hillel himself lived into his 70's in Lithuania.)
Israel Nannis, Koppel Nannis, and Sarah Nannis Levy all inherited the BrCa1 gene. They immigrated to New England, and their descendants live from California to Massachusetts, and England to Israel. The BrCa1 gene caused early breast cancer (age 29 to 35) in 7 of their female descents, ovarian cancer (age 45 to 58) in 7 of Hillel's female descendants,and male breast cancer (age 44) in one of his male descendants. Because of the testing that took place after the BrCa1 gene was discovered in the 1990's, it can be concluded that ALL of the females who carried the BrCa1 gene except for 3,were diagnosed with early breast cancer or ovarian cancer. The 3 females with the gene who never contracted these 2 cancers did so by a combination of luck and design. All 3 were lucky enough not to get breast cancer in spite of having the gene. But 2 of the 3 had prophylactic hysterectomies in their 40's (in the decade of the 1950's), and a 3rd had a hysterectomy for a non-cancerous gynelogical problem at age 53. Two of these three lived to be 84 and 75. A third is still alive and healthy at age 80.
Many of the present middle-aged generations have been tested for the presence of the BrCa1 gene. As a result of this testing, hysterectomies have been performed in some women who have tested positive, and a hysterectomy was cancelled in one woman who's father tested negative, but who had been aware of the family history. Some of Hillel's family are on chemoprevention, such as Tamoxifen.
The complete family tree of Hillel's descendants has been studied by Oncologists and Genetic counselors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. It has been presented at a conference of a National Genetic Scientific Organization.
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