Three sisters who have all contracted breast cancer fear that they may have passed on a genetic defect to their daughters.

Lynda Ward, 41, Denise Lewry, 45, and Susan Ince, 46, have been devastated by a series of diagnoses. Mrs Lewry was told in 1997 that she had the disease and Mrs Ward was told in 2001. Both are in remission.

Mrs Ince was told in June last year and had a mastectomy but found out nine weeks ago that the cancer had spread to her ribs, pelvis, hips and spine and was terminal.

So far all three have refused to have the test that would tell them whether they had passed the disease to their children because, they say, they are too scared to find out the result.

Mrs Ince said: “This has devastated us. It’s like we are living under a death sentence. But we are family and this has brought us closer together. And together we are going to battle it.”

The three sisters, who have eight children among them, including a daughter each, have been offered a test to establish whether there is a shared genetic cause for their cancer. It would give their daughters the option of having double mastectomies, removing their healthy breasts before they develop the disease. The sisters have refused to go ahead with the test.

Mrs Ward, who married her fiancé, Barry, a fortnight ago and has a 20-year-old daughter, Emma, said that the decision was a joint one. “We have talked about it intensely but neither of us want to do it. If I did have the gene and had passed it to Emma, she would have the option to have her breasts removed – but that is no prospect for a 20-year-old girl. We’re all living in fear of cancer hitting someone new.”

The sisters’ late mother, Joan Parker, did not have breast cancer. They know that a great-grandmother had breast cancer but she recovered from it and later died from other causes. They are not aware of any other female ancestors who have had the disease.

When Mrs Lewry’s cancer was diagnosed, doctors discovered a tumour the size of a golf ball in her right breast. She had a lumpectomy the same year and went into remission. In 2002 the cancer came back. She had a double mastectomy in January last year and reconstructive surgery that lasted 13 hours to remove the cancer and reconstruct her breasts.

“It has been horrendous but all the way through this my sisters have supported me and kept me together. I could not have done it without their support and care,” Mrs Lewry said.

“Despite being told it was gone, then being told it was back, I thought I was getting on top of it, battling through. But then the news came in about my sister Susan.”

Ms Ince was told that she had breast cancer last June and had a mastectomy, but nine weeks ago she suffered “incredible” pain while she was in the bath.

“We went to hospital and they did a bone scan and I was given the news the cancer had spread to four different bones,” she said. “They cannot cure it. They can only slow the effects.

“It’s like living under a death sentence. Without my sisters I would fall apart.

“Even last night I had to call one of them – I was so distraught.

“It does not seem fair to see this disease tear apart our family. But their love and support is helping me cope. Without my family I don’t know what I would do.”

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