TapGenes--Family Health Information

While at RootsTech, two of my worlds collided--the genealogy world and that of hereditary health issues.  RootsTech holds their Innovator Showdown each year, in which various genealogy-related technology products compete for $100,000 in cash and prizes.  There were some really interesting products which I blogged about during RootsTech, but one of the products really struck home for me--TapGenes.

TapGenes allows you to collect your family's medical history in one place and can flag conditions for which you may be at risk, allowing you to have a conversation with your doctor.  My personal experience with finding out I was BRCA+ because of genealogy--and therefore finding cancer at an early stage--showed me the importance of leveraging family information to give people knowledge to empower their medical decisions.

How Genealogy Saved (or Significantly Changed) My Life

I've been quiet on my blog recently.  I've been a bit preoccupied with some other things that I'll explain below--all of which started with my genealogy addiction.

I wrote earlier how I found another whole branch of my family via DNA testing.  This was so exciting that I decided to test with the other large companies in case other lost cousins had tested with those.  One of those companies, 23AndMe, offered health information in addition to identifying potential cousins.  I viewed the health benefits as a side feature, but I checked my account daily to see if my results were back and if there would be more clues to help with my genealogy search.

And then the results came.  And my life changed forever.