Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has taken another preventive measure against cancer by having her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed. Jolie, who lost her mother, grandmother and aunt to cancer, wrote an op-ed in The New York Times today about her decision to have the surgery because she has a gene that carries a 50 percent risk of developing ovarian cancer. She also had a preventive double mastectomy in 2013 to reduce her risk of getting breast cancer.
"I had been planning this for some time. It is a less complex surgery than the mastectomy, but its effects are more severe. It puts a woman into forced menopause," Jolie writes. "So I was readying myself physically and emotionally, discussing options with doctors, researching alternative medicine, and mapping my hormones for estrogen or progesterone replacement. But I felt I still had months to make the date."
Her doctor told her there were a number of inflammatory markers that were elevated, and taken together they could be a sign of early cancer. She called her husband, Brad Pitt, and had a surgeon check her ovaries immediately.
"[He] was on a plane within hours. The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity. You know what you live for and what matters. It is polarizing, and it is peaceful," she said.
Although all of the Unbroken director's scans looked clear, she went ahead with the surgery because she carries the BRCA1 gene mutation.
"I want other women to hear this. A positive BRCA test does not mean a leap to surgery," says the mom of six. "The most important thing is to learn about the options and choose what is right for you personally."
The most importing thing for Jolie is being alive. "I know my children will never have to say, 'Mom died of ovarian cancer.'"
