Cousins weigh up life without a stomach

CALIFORNIAN Mike Slabaugh does not have a stomach — and neither do his 10 US cousins.

Growing up, they watched helplessly as a rare hereditary stomach cancer killed their grandmother and some of their parents, aunts and uncles. Determined to get the better of the cancer, they turned to genetic testing. Upon learning they had inherited their grandmother Golda Bradfield’s flawed gene, they had two options.

They could play the odds and hope they did not develop cancer, with a 70% chance they would, or have their stomachs removed.