Thread: Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie reveals she recently underwent a double mastectomy

In a jaw-dropping and moving op-ed in the New York Times, Angelina Jolie has revealed she recently underwent a double mastectomy after testing positive for the gene that predisposes her to breast and ovarian cancer. "My mother fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56," writes the 37-year-old Oscar winner and U.N. goodwill ambassador. "She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. ... We often speak of 'Mommy's mommy,' and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a 'faulty' gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer."

She acknowledges that the odds were not in her favor: "My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman."

According to Jolie, "Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex."

On April 27, she completed "three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work."

But she's "writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience," she explains. "Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people's hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action."

Jolie goes on to describe her surgeries, her reasons for going public and the loving support she's received from Brad Pitt.

http://wonderwall.msn.com/movies/ang...lery?GT1=28135

Brad Pitt Calls Angelina Jolie’s Decision ‘Heroic’
May 14, 2013 12:30pm

When Angelina Jolie revealed that she’d had a preventive double mastectomy, she praised her fiancé, Brad Pitt, for standing by her throughout the ordeal. Now he’s speaking out in support of Jolie. “Having witnessed this decision firsthand, I find Angie’s choice, as well as so many others like her[s], absolutely heroic. I thank our medical team for their care and focus,” he told the U.K.’s Evening Standard. “All I want for her is to have a long and healthy life, with myself and our children. This is a happy day for our family.”

Jolie, 37, explained in a New York Times op-ed that she’d opted for the double mastectomy after learning that she carried the BRCA1 gene, which could dramatically increase her risk for breast and ovarian cancers. After her own mother died of ovarian cancer in 2007, the decision to undergo such radical surgery was “not easy, but it is one I am very happy I made,” she wrote in her Times op-ed.

“My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent,” she wrote. “I can tell my children they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertai...cision-heroic/

Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy right for some women, doctors say
By Amina Khan ~ May 14, 2013, 1:15 p.m.

Angelina Jolie’s decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy to reduce breast cancer risk was a natural move given that she carried a dangerously faulty gene, cancer surgeons said, but it’s a decision that really befits only a select group of women.

Only about 5% of breast cancer patients carry the mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, said Dr. Julian Kim, chief of surgical oncology at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center and chief medical officer of the UH Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland. "Now this is a very, very small segment of the population that has this mutation," Kim said. "So this does not apply to the general public, normal risk, female patient."

For those women, getting a double mastectomy is quite common, he said. That’s because, for those with the gene mutation, risk of developing breast cancer over a lifetime shoots up to about 85%. Ovarian cancer goes up about 50% as well, Kim said. For women with such high hereditary cancer risk, removing ovaries and breast tissue can bring risk of breast and ovarian cancer down by 90% to 95%.

This was similar reasoning used by Jolie, who in an op-ed unflinchingly describes three months of medical procedures after discovering she carried a mutated BRCA1 gene: The discomfort of “nipple delay,” a procedure to rule out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and raise chances of saving the nipple; removal and replacement of the breast tissue weeks later; and what it was like to awaken to drain tubes and expanders in both breasts. "It does feel like a scene out of a science-fiction film," Jolie wrote. "But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life."

Preventative double mastectomies have become increasingly appealing in part because the reconstruction surgery has dramatically improved in the last 10 to 15 years, Kim said. Just 25 years ago, a woman would simply have the entire breast removed, and wear prostheses in her bra underneath clothing. Now, surgeons can save the nipple, and much of the breast skin, and then fill it with an implant. "Many of these patients actually have an enhanced cosmetic result as compared to prior to surgery," said Kim, who was one among the first surgeons in the U.S to perform nipple-saving procedures. "So you’re reducing your risk of breast cancer, but you’re not paying a penalty in terms of the cosmetic result."

Ultimately, having, or not having, a preventative double mastectomy is a deeply personal choice, Kim said. "I would hope no one would judge an individual person on their decision," Kim said. "There’s a lot of factors that go into these types of decisions, other than the numbers."

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/...,5010798.story

I hope it works out for her. I'm not sure that I would be so confident to go through with it. Scary thought.

She's also going to have her ovaries removed... the whole thing seems scary to me... every time I get to the age they recommend for a base mammogram they up it. I've wanted one for ten years because there is a history of cancer in my family. Not breast cancer, but cancer all the same... but nope, they will not do it. I could get a sonogram on a specific area if I felt something, but not a full one. Makes me mad... you just know it's men deciding this crap and I get they pay for anything to do with their balls at any age.