A
Art Mann
Guest
Angelina Jolie had double mastectomy
to reduce risk of breast cancer
Health campaigners praise actor's decision to go public with news
to encourage other women to check for defective gene BRCA1
[SUB]Haroon Siddique, Jonathan Haynes and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 May 2013 11.15 BST
[/SUB]
Angelina Jolie has revealed she has had a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer.
Health campaigners praised her decision to go public with the news, which she said was prompted by a desire to encourage other women to get gene-tested and to raise awareness of the options available to those at risk.
The actor has a defective gene, BRCA1, which doctors told her had increased her risk of developing breast cancer to 87%, and her risk of ovarian cancer, the disease that killed her mother at the age of 56, to 50%,she wrote in the New York Times.
The surgery, which began in February, has reduced Jolie's risk of breast cancer to under 5%, she said. "I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer," she wrote.
"It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that's it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."
The 37-year-old, who has six children – three by Brad Pitt, who was by her side for "every minute of the surgeries", and three adopted – finished three months of medical procedures on 27 April. She said she first had "nipple delay" to maximise the chances of saving her nipples, before breast tissue removal and, nine weeks later, reconstruction.
Jolie wrote: "I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer."
FULL STORY HERE
to reduce risk of breast cancer
Health campaigners praise actor's decision to go public with news
to encourage other women to check for defective gene BRCA1
[SUB]Haroon Siddique, Jonathan Haynes and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 May 2013 11.15 BST
[/SUB]
Angelina Jolie has revealed she has had a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer.
Health campaigners praised her decision to go public with the news, which she said was prompted by a desire to encourage other women to get gene-tested and to raise awareness of the options available to those at risk.
The actor has a defective gene, BRCA1, which doctors told her had increased her risk of developing breast cancer to 87%, and her risk of ovarian cancer, the disease that killed her mother at the age of 56, to 50%,she wrote in the New York Times.
The surgery, which began in February, has reduced Jolie's risk of breast cancer to under 5%, she said. "I can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer," she wrote.
"It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that's it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."
The 37-year-old, who has six children – three by Brad Pitt, who was by her side for "every minute of the surgeries", and three adopted – finished three months of medical procedures on 27 April. She said she first had "nipple delay" to maximise the chances of saving her nipples, before breast tissue removal and, nine weeks later, reconstruction.
Jolie wrote: "I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer."
FULL STORY HERE