If you are born into a family with a history of a particular disease, are you destined to develop the disease? Although a test may show that you have the genetic mutation linked to the disease, this does not necessarily mean that you will get it—except in very rare cases, such as Huntington’s disease. However, the probability does increase.

In this video, you’ll meet Catherine Elton, a woman who faced a difficult decision: whether to test for a mutation that’s been linked to breast cancer, which runs in her family. While women in the general population have a 12 percent risk of getting the disease, those who have this mutation have a 60 percent chance. Click on the left to watch the video about some of the pros and cons associated with testing.