Two million women in the United States are at a higher risk of getting breast cancer based on their Jewish ethnicity.
Studies have shown Ashkenazi Jews are more likely to carry the genetic mutations linked to the disease.
So, many doctors have encouraged women of Ashkenazi Jewish descent to get tested for the breast cancer gene. However, for many women, it's an ethnicity they never even knew they had in their blood.
Marjorie Gallece grew up Methodist. Renee Wasserman's mother was raised in Shanghai, China.
Both women discovered they were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. Gallece carries the BRCA-2 gene distinct to the Ashkenazi Jewish line, and Wasserman has a founder mutation for BRCA-1.
The path to these discoveries started when the two took a genetic test that determined whether they carried the genes, BRCA-1 or BRCA-2, linked to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.
Gallece is a breast cancer survivor.
"It puts you in a new place. It's a whole new moment. Your mortality becomes very real, and the same is true if you have a genetic mutation," she said.
Wasserman is what's called a previvor: a woman with a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer, based on the genetic test.
"I can't say it was 100 percent unexpected because of this feeling that something wasn't right," Wasserman said.
Scientists are making the link to breast cancer and so many other genetic diseases through these founder mutations.
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Ashkenazi
News 8's Crestina Chavez shares how genetic tests are revealing some surprising ethnic discoveries.
 
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"Way back, generations and generations ago, there was one woman who had a certain mutation, and because the population is so small, that mutation has stayed common in this population," certified genetic counselor, Gayle Simpson Patel, explained.
In essence, the mutation has been around for 600 years, perhaps even longer.
"A great way to learn your family story is to sit down with some of the older generations in your family. You're going to learn sort of really interesting stories about each other, but also medical information that maybe really be helpful," Patel said.
A history so many women never knew before. Gallece unearthed her mother's family tree.
"My maternal grandfather was a rabbi who fled from persecution in Czechoslovakia and so when he fled, and converted to Christianity all of that kind of got buried and it wasn't until later in life that my mother talked about that," Gallece said.
Wasserman dug into her father's history.
"My doctor had me call and ask right there while we were in the room, 'Please ask your dad if you're Ashkenazi.' My blood was already taken off and my dad got back to me within the half-hour and said, 'yes, you are Ashkenazi.' I was very proud of it," Wasserman said.
Two discoveries offer a glimpse at their past to defend their future.
