Angelina Jolie announced today in an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times that she underwent a nipple-sparing prophylactic bilateral mastectomy with implant reconstruction after learning that she carries a BRCA1 mutation. She indicated that she has a family history of cancer including her mother who died at age 56 after battling cancer for a decade. Hopefully her words and choice will be inspiring and reassuring for other high risk women as her thoughts and feelings echo what we have heard from many high risk women. She indicates that although the decision to have mastectomy was not easy she is happy with her decision and she feels “empowered” and that it “in no way diminishes her femininity”. She indicates that a large part of her decision was the loss of her mother to cancer and wanting to be able to assure her children that they don’t need to worry about losing her to breast cancer.
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