sharron o'neill always knew she had something even before she was diagnosed with cancer as a teenager, she knew her family had a stronger link to the deadly disease than others when ms o'neill was diagnosed with lynch syndrome in her late 20s, a genetic condition that makes someone more likely to get cancer, she said it wasn't surprise sharron o'neil and her mother, jilian carter, both have lynch syndrome it is a genetic condition that makes someone 85 per cent more likely to get cancer  'our family always knew there was something; we just didn't know it was a gene and a specific thing,' ms o'neill said 'but, once i found out about lynch syndrome and knew what it was, it all started to make sense' mrs o'neill was diagnosed with bowel cancer when she was just 19 a week earlier, her grandmother had died of pancreatic cancer her mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer at the age of 39 her family history with cancer extends back much further, with ms o'neill saying she tracked it back more than 200 years 'the farthest back i have been able to go is to a relative who came to australia on a boat as an orphan in the early 1800s,' she said 'it covers six generations that i know of' lynch syndrome is a genetic condition that makes people more susceptible to a number of cancers including bowel cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, pancreatic cancer, and stomach cancer, among many others people with the gene have an 85 per cent chance of developing cancer before the age of 70 ms o'neill's great grandmother died of cancer just five years later, her grandmother's sister did too she said the family was 'on notice' from that point in the following years, four of the five remaining children, including ms o'neill's grandmother,  faced three of more lynch syndrome cancers, averaging out to almost one person per decade family ties: mrs o'neil's grandmother in the arms of her great grandmother  lynch syndrome australia spokeswoman beth fairbank said approximately 20,000 australians have the genetic condition, but only five per cent of people were diagnosed 'there's 95 per cent of people walking around with it and they have no idea,' ms fairbank said 'a lot of families that have a history of cancer think it's just a bit of bad luck and there's nothing that can be done about it, but in some cases it isn't bad luck and there are things that can be done 'if there is such a thing, it can be a good cancer story there are a lot of things that you can do and it really makes people aware and alert against it 'people who know about the condition get checked much more regularly, which greatly reduces the overall risk from cancer' ms o'neill said the most important thing is for people to start asking some potentially tough questions 'there are a lot of factors that go into it, but everyone should be asking questions and looking at their family history,' she said 'if a lot of people in your family under 50 have or had cancer, head to your gp and ask' lynch syndrome not only makes someone more likely to get cancer, but it also means they will likely get the disease earlier in life in addition to that, ms o'neill said she had seen each person in her family get cancer at an early age than their parent or relative of the previous generation that trend was one of the driving factors in why her and her husband decided against having children of their own 'there are a lot of factors that went into it   our geneticist actually said it shouldn't stop us from having kids,' she said 'but, it was a personal decision i had seen people in my family get cancer at younger and younger ages 'i was diagnosed at 19 the thought of having a child who would battle with cancer while they were or a teenager or at school was too much' march 22 is lynch syndrome international awareness day and australians are being urged to become aware of their family's cancer history  lynch syndrome australia director eve raets promoted the day at rundle mall in adelaide over the weekend  march 22 is lynch syndrome international awareness day, and mrs o'neill said the day should be used to make sure people know about the condition 'the key thing is that we really need to be raising awareness 'there are a lot of people who don't want to know, but it has such a huge impact on families 'ask the questions'
only 5% o'neill australians sharron o'neill her late 20s lynch syndrome australia the early 1800s lynch
sharron o'neill can track cancer in her family back to the early 1800s  'our family always knew there was something,' mrs o'neill says  mrs o'neill was diagnosed with lynch syndrome in her late 20s  it is a genetic condition that makes people more likely to get cancer  about 20,000 australians have the condition, but only 5% diagnosed  lynch syndrome australia says more needs to be done to raise awareness 