NEW YORK


Top Hollywood star and UNHCR Special Representative Angelina Jolie has undergone a preventive double mastectomy, she revealed Tuesday in The New York Times.
Jolie, whose mother died of cancer at the age of 56, wrote an opinion piece, titled "My Medical Choice," explaining that she underwent the breast removal procedure because she has a mutated BRCA1 gene known to raise a woman's risk of breast and ovarian cancers.
The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes work in the body to keep DNA stable and to make sure cells don't grow out of control, according to the National Cancer Institute. But certain mutations of these genes can dramatically raise cancer risk.
Jolie, 37, explained her risks from BRCA1 in the op-ed piece: “My doctors estimated that I had an 87 per cent risk of breast cancer and a 50 per cent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman.”
Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 per cent risk of getting it, on average.
Jolie began the process on February 2, when she underwent a "delay" procedure to make sure there is no breast cancer behind the nipple. She completed all the mastectomy procedures on April 27, including breast reconstruction with an implant, she wrote.
"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy," she wrote. "But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 per cent to under 5 per cent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer." CNN recently reported on a study showing that preventive mastectomy, also known as prophylactic mastectomy, is more common in the United States than in other countries.
AFP adds: Jolie and Pitt have three adopted and three biological children.
"I can tell my children they don't need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer," Jolie said. Jolie described a several-stage surgical process, the main one of which is an operation that can take up to eight hours as the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place.
"You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life," Jolie wrote.
The final phase of the process involved reconstruction of the breasts with implants, she said, adding: "There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years and the results can be beautiful."
Jolie said Pitt has been a huge source of support. "Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries," she said, adding that "we managed to find moments to laugh together." Jolie said she has only small scars after the ordeal, with nothing alarming for her children to see.
"On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."
Jolie, one of the world's highest-paid performers, said the cost of getting tested for BRCA1 and another faulty gene, called BRCA2, is more than $3,000 in the United States and that this "remains an obstacle for many women". She said she hopes women living under the threat of cancer will be able to get tested. "Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of," Jolie wrote.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who has been working with Jolie in the past few months in her role as UN special envoy for refugee issues to highlight the problem of sexual violence in conflict, said she was a "brave lady".
Hague and Jolie visited Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo in March and successfully joined forces at a meeting of G8 finance ministers last month to win a pledge to act against the use of rape as a weapon of war.
"She's a courageous lady, a very professional lady. She's done a lot of work with me in recent months and travelled with me through some difficult places in the Congo," Hague told Sky News television. "She gave no sign that she was undergoing such treatment. She's a very brave lady not only to carry on with her work so well during such treatment, also to write about it now and talk about it. She's a brave lady and will be an inspiration to many."