50-year-old Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie recently appeared on the cover of the inaugural issue of Time France, the French edition of Time Magazine, and rarely revealed the scars left on her chest from surgery. In her interview, Jolie candidly said that her reason for coming forward was to remind the public of the importance of disease prevention. She emphasized that, regardless of financial means or place of residence, everyone should have the right to access health care and disease screening, and should not face any restrictions. She also mentioned that many women have scars for various reasons, stating, “Seeing them willing to share their experiences often deeply moves me.”
In fact, as early as 2013, Jolie wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled “My Medical Choice,” publicly sharing her personal health decision. She mentioned her mother’s nearly decade-long battle with breast cancer, which ultimately ended in her mother’s passing in 2007 at the age of 56. Jolie wrote that her mother tried hard to endure the illness so she could meet several of her grandchildren and hold them in her arms, but some of the children never got to feel their grandmother’s love, which became an indelible regret for Jolie.
Because her children were anxious she might face the same fate, Jolie decided to undergo genetic testing. According to her doctors, she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer and a 50% chance of ovarian cancer. Faced with these results, she chose to proactively lower her risk by undergoing a preventative double mastectomy, with then-partner Brad Pitt by her side nearly the whole time.
After the procedure, Jolie revealed that the scars from the surgery were not obvious and her family was not frightened by them. About nine weeks after having the procedure, she also underwent breast reconstruction. She reiterated that the purpose of sharing her experience is to encourage other women with a family history of such diseases, letting them know this choice, while difficult, is one worth seriously considering. She concluded by saying the surgery lowered her risk of breast cancer from 87% to just 5%, “I am able to tell my children they no longer have to worry about losing me to breast cancer.”
Source: United Daily News