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In case you missed them, here are some of the top stories from the weekend:
For Irene Gielen, it was better to know.
Her grandmother had died of breast cancer when she was 40. At 30, Gielen, who works in an oncology clinic, started advocating to her health care provider that she needed to start breast screening younger than the recommended age of 45.
Then, in December 2015, doctors found a tiny suspicious spot in her breast. Gielen decided to undergo genetic testing for any mutations she could have inherited that would heighten her risk for certain cancers.
A few weeks later, Gielen found out she was BRCA1 positive. It meant she had a hugely increased lifetime risk for cancer — around 60 percent for breast cancer and around 50 percent for ovarian cancer.
Her reaction was unexpected.
“I felt relief. Because I knew there was something,” Gielen said, recovering in her Vancouver home 17 days after an operation to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes.
Mark Rego, Union High School’s offensive line coach and longtime assistant football coach in Clark County, died Saturday morning of complications from a recent lung cancer diagnosis. He was 57.
Rego last coached in Union’s 43-14 nonleague win over Eastlake at McKenzie Stadium on Sept. 14, said Union head football coach Rory Rosenbach, after a doctor’s visit revealed cancer had returned. Back in the spring, Rego overcame Stage 3 tongue cancer to start his 28th season coaching in Evergreen Public Schools in August.
With his tongue cancer in remission this summer, Rego told The Columbian in August he sees life “in a whole different aspect now.”
“Enjoy where you’re at,” Rego said in August, “and what you’re going through. Enjoy the journey, because that’s the stuff you’re going to remember.”
Two people were killed Saturday night and two injured, one of them with life-threatening injuries, in a single-car crash in the Hockinson area, Clark County authorities said.
Rescuers responding to a 911 call made at 11:22 p.m. found the car on fire at Northeast 182nd Avenue and 139th Street.
One of the dead victims — identified as Isabella P. Huyck, 19, of Tumwater — was inside the burning car, which Fire District 3 firefighters extinguished, a Clark County Sheriff’s Office news release says. The other, Aaron T. Jones, 34, of Vancouver, was found on the ground outside the vehicle.
A data breach at Rebound Orthopedics & Neurosurgery may have revealed individuals’ personal information, including Social Security numbers and limited health information, the Vancouver-based company announced Friday evening.
“Although at this time there is no evidence of any attempted or actual misuse of anyone’s information as a result of this incident, Rebound has sent notification letters to the potentially impacted individuals to notify them of this incident and to provide resources to assist them,” the company said in a news release.
No medical records appeared to have been accessed, company officials said.
It is the second Vancouver-based business to report a data breach this week. On Wednesday, Burgerville said thousands of customers’ credit and debit card information may have been compromised during a cyberattack it learned of in late August. The same day, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Burgerville customer, alleging the company was negligent in its cybersecurity practices.
BATTLE GROUND — Business was picking up for tiny home builder Derek Huegel and Wolf Industries in October 2017 when they were hit with a “stop working” order from the city of Battle Ground.
Huegel looks back on the order fondly while sitting in the office of his company’s new 10,000-square-foot building, which became its home in August. After starting a woodworking company at the age of 16, Huegel continued to work as a contractor until 2016, when he transformed it into a tiny home construction company. He has since built about 36 homes and is sitting on a backlog of about 15 more, including some destined for California to help families displaced by wildfires.
“It was the best thing that happened to us,” Huegel, 29, said of last year’s stop order. “It pushed us to get this space.”
