A mother of two said today she had both breasts and her womb removed because she could wait no longer for results that would show if she was at a higher genetic risk of contracting cancer.

Oonagh Wilson, 39, lost both her mother and grandmother to breast cancer. Two of her aunts have also been diagnosed with the illness.

Tests were carried out on members of her family in 2002, but as the long wait for results began Mrs Wilson, from Elgin in Moray, Scotland, decided to undergo preventative surgery - a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy - in 2003.

More than three years on, she is still awaiting the results of one of the tests which will establish if her mother had a faulty gene.

"When I went to the geneticist I was told the test results would take about two years but I chose not to wait," she said.

"You feel as if you are on your own, just waiting in limbo, but it is actually your life that’s waiting in limbo and your children’s lives and the rest of your family’s lives. I wanted to have a full and happy life without having to worry every day about the prospect of having breast cancer."

Mrs Wilson said the results would have a major impact on her life as well as those of her two children, who may need to consider preventative surgery themselves in the future.

"I think it is absolutely horrendous to have a three-year wait - these are life-threatening and life-changing results," she said.

"I have not even been tested for the gene yet because we are waiting for my mother’s results. I want the Scottish Executive to come up with some target times that they can keep so we are aware of how long it is going to take."

Last month the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the Government's fertility watchdog, approved a recommendation to allow thousands of women who carry inherited forms of breast cancer to screen embryos for use in IVF.

Critics said that the move marked a further step down a "slippery slope", which was permitting screening for ever less serious genetic traits.

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