Actress
Angelina Jolie announced in a New York
Times op-ed article on Tuesday that she underwent a preventive double
mastectomy after learning she carries a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which
sharply increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
"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 wrote. "Once I knew that this was my reality, I
decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a
decision to have a preventive double mastectomy."
Jolie's
mother, actress and producer Marcheline Bertrand, died of ovarian cancer in
2007 at the age of 56.
Mastectomy
is the surgical removal of a breast to remove a malignant tumour.
In
the Times op-ed, titled "My Medical Choice," Jolie said she
finished three months of medical procedures at the Pink Lotus Breast Center in
California on April 27 that included the mastectomies and reconstruction.
"I
wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy
was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made," Jolie wrote.
"My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to
under 5 percent.
"I
can tell my children that they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast
cancer," she said.
Jolie
may be best known for title role in the "Laura Croft" series of
films, but also won an Academy Award as best supporting actress in "Girl,
Interrupted." She also received a Golden Globe Award and SAG Award for the
same role.
Jolie
serves as a special enjoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
and has visited refugee camps around the world.
The
actress has been in a relationship with actor Brad Pitt since the mid-2000s and
they are engaged. The couple has three biological and three adopted children.
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