Actress Angelina Jolie had a preventative double mastectomy and writes about her decision to undergo the procedure in an opinion in the New York Times.
Jolie’s mother died of breast cancer when she was 56 and fought cancer for over a decade before that.
“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,” writes Jolie.
Jolie says she carries the “faulty” gene, BRCA1, which increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Jolie finished the three months of medical procedures on April 27, and was able to keep the whole ordeal private.
“But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. 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,” she writes.
According to the World Health Organization, breast cancer kills about 458,000 people each year.
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