Angelina Jolie Double Masterctomy Her Choice

(CNN) -- 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. Jolie is 37 years old and she felt this was the method for her to reduce risk of breast and ovarian because she had a family history of cancer.

Angelina defines double mastectomy as her choice which I can say is a brave preventative method and option for her.  This is an individual decision which because of Angelina fame many other women may have the opportunity to select this option also.  The BRCA1 gene can only be discovered by gene testing Ashkenazi Jewish women (whose ancestors came from Eastern Europe) are more likely to be BRCA gene carriers. Some experts recommend gene tests for women who are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent if they have one or both of the following: Age—the risks of breast and ovarian cancer increase with age. n addition, limited data indicate that the frequencies of specific BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations may vary among individual racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and non-Hispanic whites (11–13). Most breast and ovarian cancers occur in women over the age of 50. Women with harmful BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations often develop breast or ovarian cancer before age 50.

BRAC1 Gene Testing is costly $3000.00 or more and may not be covered by insurance and at this point would not be offered unless you have a family history of breast and ovarian cancer.  My concerns are that women who can’t afford this testing will not be able to afford this option which also had to include the added cost of reconstructive surgery.  In spite of the fact more Ashkenazi Jewish women descent have a high rate of this breast cancer Afro American women are more likely to die from breast cancer.  

As a caregiver and child who have had a sequence of family members die from cancer I can understand Angelina decision to have a double mastectomy.  The concern of inheriting the disease of cancer weights heavy on any surviving family member,  only a few months after my mother’s death I had the call that my breast screening showed a change in my breast .  Thankfully it was not cancer but I had to be tested again in 6 months and have to be tested more frequently than I would like because testing carries its own health risk.  Angelina Jolie limited the entire what’s if and took control and of her own health outcome. 

For me I am also reminded of the 3 women I saw in the oncology waiting room while waiting for my husband to be called for chemo, all from different backgrounds sharing their battle scars from their mastectomy.   So not concerned with the room full of people just each other as one woman stated I choose life.