Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy.

She opted for a double mastectomy, and is sharing her story.

I'm not really interested in celebrities, but she is one of the very few I really admire. She's telling her story to help others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html


MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.

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.

My mother had breast cancer and this was the first test run, for the BRCA1. Lucky for my family it came back negative. What a hard and selfless choice to make. She's a fascinating woman for sure.

I think it's brave of her to do this. On the other hand I think it's very sad that we have people afraid of something to the point they'll mutilate themselves for something we really know very little about.

They can talk about the faulty gene all they want, many women have it and will never have an issue. Many women without it will die for all sorts of reasons including cancer.

There was an interview with the first woman who had a double mastectomy in the uk, and pretty much anywhere, and it was her that has pioneered it.

She went back through her family tree and every woman in her family seemed to have breast cancer, and they have the gene.

Her daughter had the op aged 24.

I don't think it's sad, I think it's bloody brave. These women know there is a chance they won't get it too, but they don't want to take it.

I think it's their choice, and a very brave one.

I think saying its mutilation is... Strong, and not positive.

and I think it's bloody sad that they have people scared to the point their willing to cut off perfectly healthy body parts for something they have barely scratched the surface of understanding.

sorry, I don't find cutting of perfectly healthy organs as anything but mutilation. Wonder what you'll do when you find out you're at risk for a heart attack, cut it out before it can attack?

Really, I dont think that these women go in blind.

They know what the stats are, and if you can prevent it, why not?

If you have a family history of 5 generations of women who develop breast cancer, you test positive for the gene, you're telling me you'd just sit and wait to develop it and hope you catch it early?

It is a powerful decision.

You can function perfectly well without breast. To compare it to a heart is a little silly.

This. I think if you come from a family, where every generation of women has died of cancer - up to your own mother (not me - a school friend though) it's a totally different perspective.
I wouldn't view an organ "perfectly healthy" if every women in my family had breast cancer.
One of my school friend's mom passed away from breast cancer when she was 16. Her grandmother, her great-grandmother and her great-great-grandmother passed away from cancer before the age of 45. My friend was diagnosed with hodgkins Lymphoma at the age of 20. Now, at the age of 23, she is OK. Chances she will get breast cancer as well though? Pretty high. If I were in her position, I would not view my breasts as a "perfectly healthy" organ.

I have the same 87% chance of developing breast cancer. And I have also considered the same preventative measures. I like being alive. Good for her, for sharing.

I have no family history behind my mom, so in theory I may or may not get cancer like her and I'm not sure how it would sway me knowing either way.

Does insurance cover this generally? Or is it considered optional?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html?smid=tw-share&_r=3&

angelina jolie’s op-ed about her preventative double mastectomy/reconstruction is very well done and I am very glad that she spoke about the ****ing galling costs of diagnostic testing and the ridiculous state of women’s health care.

She made an educated choice about her future, her feelings, her health/predisposition to the disease with her OWN BODY. Go her. I would do the same.

everyone mourning her rack or judging her very PERSONAL decision can eat ****

No one in my family has had breast cancer so it is not something I've been tested for. If I did have a family with a history of the disease, yes, I'd be tested and , yes, if at all possible I'd take preventative measures. I'm not defined by my breasts and I have no qualms about removing something if it has a high probability of killing me.

Pretty much this. Well said.