Angelia Jolie Writes of Cancer Risk and Double Mastectomy in New ...

Angelia Jolie?gifted vinter and Oscar winner?wrote an extraordinarily personal and eloquent editorial in today?s New York Times about her decision to undergo a double mastectomy at California?s Pink Lotus Breast Center earlier this spring.

?I carry a ?faulty? gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer,? Jolie writes. ?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.? Jolie?s mother died of the latter in 2007.

Several operations later?procedures Jolie recounts with an admirably surgeon-like poise and distance?Jolie writes that her children ?can see my small scars and that?s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was . . . 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.?

Gene testing can save lives, but at $3,000, it ?remains an obstacle for many women.? And in related news, sometime this week Eric Cantor will hold yet another bimonthly vote to repeal Obamacare?a vote that if successful (although it will most assuredly fail), will prevent many more women from access to potentially life-saving care.

Source: http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/05/angelia-jolie-writes-of-cancer-risk-and-double-mastectomy-in-new-york-times-op-ed

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