Previvor: A Journey Through BRCA, Motherhood, and the Power of Rewriting My Story

At twenty-four years old, Erica Clem learned that a single genetic test result would change the course of her life. She carried the BRCA1 gene mutation, a genetic inheritance that dramatically increases the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Suddenly, she was faced with decisions about her body, her future, and the family she hoped to have long before she ever expected to make them.

As a previvor—someone who has not had cancer but takes proactive steps to reduce their risk—Erica shares the physical and emotional realities of preventive surgeries, family history, and learning to live in a body that often felt under revision.

But Previvor is also about motherhood, postpartum depression, mental health, marriage, career, identity, vulnerability, and human connection. It is about fear—and learning not to let it drive the wheel. It is about falling apart, making mistakes, starting over, and realizing that healing is rarely linear.

With honesty and vulnerability, Erica explores what it means to lose pieces of yourself while trying to be a mother, wife, and educator. She writes about the expectations we carry for our lives, the grief that comes when reality looks different, and the strength it takes to keep moving forward when you no longer recognize yourself.

For anyone who has faced an unexpected detour, questioned who they are becoming, or had to rebuild after a season that changed them, Previvor is a story about vulnerability, resilience, and the courage to find your way back to yourself.