Angelina Jolie Reveals Brave Decision to Have Double Mastectomy to Avoid Cancer

The fiancee of Brad Pitt opens up about her
breast removal surgery to empower other
women at risk of having cancer to make a
strong choice.
Angelina Jolie makes a
shocking revelation
Tuesday, May 14 in a
New York Times article
titled "My Medical
Choice". The mother of
six says she went under
the knife to have a
double mastectomy
after finding out that
she has a mutated
BRCA1 gene which
sharply increases a
woman's risk of breast
and ovarian cancers.
Jolie's mother
Marcheline Bertrand died in 2007 at 56 after
fighting ovarian cancer for nearly a decade.
Her six children sometimes ask her if the same
could happen to her, and the 37-year-old
actress wants to avoid the same fate as her
mom. "I have always told them not to worry,
but the truth is I carry a 'faulty' gene," she
says.
"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," she
adds. "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," so
she explains. She quietly began a "nipple
delay" on February 2 to save the part of the
body before having surgery to remove her
breast tissue and undergoing reconstruction of
the breasts with an implant.
Jolie finished the 3-month procedure on April
27 with her fiance Brad Pitt by her side. She's
grateful to have such a "loving and supportive"
partner. "So to anyone who has a wife or
girlfriend going through this, know that you
are a very important part of the transition,"
she says.
"Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center,
where I was treated, for every minute of the
surgeries. We managed to find moments to
laugh together. We knew this was the right
thing to do for our family and that it would
bring us closer. And it has," she gushes.
"The decision to have a mastectomy was not
easy. But it is one I am very happy that I
made. My chances of developing breast cancer
have dropped from 87 percent to under 5
percent," she says, adding that she now
becomes more assured when answering
question from her kids, "I can tell my children
that they don't need to fear they will lose me
to breast cancer."
"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," she continues.
"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," she adds.
She decides to go public with her story
"because there are many women who do not
know that they might be living under the
shadow of cancer." She explains, "It is my
hope that they, too, will be able to get gene
tested, and that if they have a high risk they,
too, will know that they have strong options."