Angelina Jolie Undergoes Double Mastectomy

EWonline reports that Angelina Jolie has undergone a double mastectomy in order to minimize the likelihood of breast cancer. The actress made the decision to have the surgery after genetic testing indicated that she faced a high probability of developing the disease.

The Academy Award-winner shared the news today in a New York Times column titled "My Medical Choice," explaining that she didn't want to suffer the same fate as her mother, who died in 2007 after battling ovarian cancer for nearly a decade.

"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," she 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."

The mother of six said she was often asked by her children if she would succomb to the same illness as their grandmother. "I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a 'faulty' gene, BRCA1, which sharply increases my risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer," Jolie wrote.

"Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could," she continued. "I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex."

The internationally-known actress hopes her story will raise awareness among women throughout the world, potentially saving the lives others unfamiliar with this kind of testing or preventative measure.
"...there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer," she said. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options."

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