Cancer experts said Angelina Jolie’s decision to have a preventive double mastectomy because of a heightened genetic risk for breast cancer should encourage women to look into their family history for the disease.
via Experts Weigh In on Angelina Jolie’s Double Mastectomy – WSJ.com.
Many people, especially women are weighing in with their opinions about Angelina Jolie’s preventative double mastectomy.
Personally, I have had several friends die from breast cancer. My best friend from my college years died at 41 years old…way too soon. She left a three year old daughter to wonder what her risks were for developing this horrible disease.
In the years since my friend died, many advances have been made in the early detection of breast cancer. There are now reliable predictors of who might be at higher risk for breast cancer.
Angelina and many others carry a gene that makes them at higher risk for developing breast cancer. The determining test of whether you carry the “breast cancer genetic predisposition” is fairly simple. The decision as to what to do if you find you are at higher risk is not so easy.
What Angelina has done by revealing her personal choice after finding out that she was at higher risk for breast cancer is this:
- She has opened a public discussion that just might save some women’s lives.
- At the very least it will educate women about the choices that are available to them with regard to their personal health.
- It will hopefully help today’s woman to advocate for herself when it comes to her risk and prevention of developing breast cancer.
I would definitely want to know if I had a gene that made me at high risk for breast cancer and I would probably consider a drastic approach such as Angelina Jolie’s double mastectomy with reconstruction.
What would you do?
Has this discussion in the news made you more aware of how you can be proactive about breast cancer prevention?
I am really not interested if you think whether or not Angelina should be discussing her personal choice or if you think she made the right choice….the question is…
Would you do something drastic to keep yourself alive longer?
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