The Briefing Room
General Category => Sports/Entertainment/MSM/Social Media => Topic started by: Rapunzel on May 14, 2013, 06:03:35 am
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http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/14/angelina-jolie-reveals-had-preventive-double-mastectomy-after-discovering/
Angelina Jolie reveals she had preventive double mastectomy after discovering cancer gene
Published May 14, 2013
FoxNews.com
(http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/Entertainment/660/371/angelina%20hot%20mama.jpg?ve=1)
Angelina Jolie says she underwent a preventive double mastectomy earlier this year because she carries a gene that increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
In a New York Times article published late Monday, Jolie says she carries the "faulty" BRCA1 gene. She writes that the risk of developing cancer varies, but doctors estimated she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.
Jolie, whose mother died at age 56 after a long battle with cancer, says she decided to have the preventive mastectomy to be "proactive" for the sake of her six children with her partner, Brad Pitt.
"Today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action," Jolie writes.
Jolie says she began the process on Feb. 2 and it took three months for her to fully recover. She says she is sharing her story to encourage other women who may not be informed about the procedure and their options.
"I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy," she writes. "But it is one I am very happy that I made. 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."
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html?_r=2&
My Medical Choice
By ANGELINA JOLIE
Published: May 14, 2013
MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was.
We often speak of “Mommy’s mommy,” and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me. 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.
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.
Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average.
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. 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.
On April 27, I finished the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved. During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.
But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience. Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness. But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action.
My own process began on Feb. 2 with a procedure known as a “nipple delay,” which rules out disease in the breast ducts behind the nipple and draws extra blood flow to the area. This causes some pain and a lot of bruising, but it increases the chance of saving the nipple.
Two weeks later I had the major surgery, where the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place. The operation can take eight hours. 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.
Nine weeks later, the final surgery is completed with the reconstruction of the breasts with an implant. There have been many advances in this procedure in the last few years, and the results can be beautiful.
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. 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.
It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them uncomfortable. They can see my small scars and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything to be with them as long as I can. 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.
I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive. So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition. Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Center, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries. We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.
For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.
I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery. My own regimen will be posted in due course on the Web site of the Pink Lotus Breast Center. I hope that this will be helpful to other women.
Breast cancer alone kills some 458,000 people each year, according to the World Health Organization, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. It has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment, whatever their means and background, wherever they live. The cost of testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2, at more than $3,000 in the United States, remains an obstacle for many women.
I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. 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.
Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.
Angelina Jolie is an actress and director.
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She's nutty as a fruitcake. But in this instance, it's a personal decision, I don't have an opinion, (not that it matters).
I just wanted to call her a nut. :seeya:
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She's nutty as a fruitcake. But in this instance, it's a personal decision, I don't have an opinion, (not that it matters).
I just wanted to call her a nut. :seeya:
Not certain why you would call her a nut. She is one of the few in Hollywood who actually walks the walk, she spends and has spent a LOT of time throughout the Middle East in the middle of war zones working with orphaned and displaced children. I think we all have our idiosyncrasies; in her case the death of her mother to breast cancer had a profound affect on her life.
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Angelina Jolie had her breasts removed?
OH NOES!!!!!!!!! :thud:
....seriously, she's a very brave woman to do that as a preemptive strike.
Now I REALLY 'love' her! :patriot:
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Angelina Jolie had her breasts removed?
OH NOES!!!!!!!!! :thud:
....seriously, she's a very brave woman to do that as a preemptive strike.
Now I REALLY 'love' her! :patriot:
There was a formerr beauty queen on with Megyn Kelly last hour who is getting ready to do the same thing, her mother died at 27 from breast cancer and her grandmother died at a young age from breast cancer, she is now 25. Reminds me of my husbands mothers side of the family... His mother, her sisters, her mother, her grandmother and great grandmother ALL died from stomach cancer.
The reconstructive surgery Jolie had is interesting surgery, they remove the nipples and the breast tissue, put in tissue expanders and then when it is healed from the first surgery go in and put in implants and re-attach the nipples. The tubes she discussed and the bruising are both horrible and painful (I have had breast surgery and the aforesaid tubes - which have to be changed out at least two to three times a day), but the healing leaves a pretty nice result when it is all over.
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There was a formerr beauty queen on with Megyn Kelly last hour who is getting ready to do the same thing, her mother died at 27 from breast cancer and her grandmother died at a young age from breast cancer, she is now 25. Reminds me of my husbands mothers side of the family... His mother, her sisters, her mother, her grandmother and great grandmother ALL died from stomach cancer.
The reconstructive surgery Jolie had is interesting surgery, they remove the nipples and the breast tissue, put in tissue expanders and then when it is healed from the first surgery go in and put in implants and re-attach the nipples. The tubes she discussed and the bruising are both horrible and painful (I have had breast surgery and the aforesaid tubes - which have to be changed out at least two to three times a day), but the healing leaves a pretty nice result when it is all over.
A former girlfriend who is from Trinidad/Tobago.....her 27 year old daughter recently had both breasts removed and just completed her reconstructive surgery.
I teased her that at least now she can order a couple of Double D's.
She laughed.
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Actually only a bad plastic surgeon would put in double D's - unless that person was quite large to begin with. I saw a woman a year or so ago down at the lake who had one such doctor and she looked grotesque, a good doctor goes by a person's bone and breast structure.
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Actually only a bad plastic surgeon would put in double D's - unless that person was quite large to begin with. I saw a woman a year or so ago down at the lake who had one such doctor and she looked grotesque, a good doctor goes by a person's bone and breast structure.
It was meant....and taken as a joke, Rap.
I agree that fake breast are ugly...virtually all the time. You'd think they could come up with something more authentic than what looks like two large grapefruits sewn under the skin.
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Kudos to her. Not only did she have the courage to do it, but she went public so that other people might examine their options as well. Ironically, having the cancer gene means she is high risk for other types of cancer, so the surgery may have been in vain. But she took a proactive measure to prolong her life and, by extension, the lives of many others. Cheers to her for taking such a "selfish" measure. Ayn Rand would have been proud of her.
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It was meant....and taken as a joke, Rap.
I agree that fake breast are ugly...virtually all the time. You'd think they could come up with something more authentic than what looks like two large grapefruits sewn under the skin.
There is a lot of reasons for that, DC. One is like I mentioned a bad doctor putting in too large of an implant... also scar tissue. Some women make more scar tissue than others and the scar tissue pushes in on the implants giving that grapefruit look. The way they over come that is as the healing is taking place the breast and surrounding tissues is "massaged" many times during the day to keep the capsule open and unimpinged by scaring from the healing.. when that is done then the breasts heal with a much more natural look and the breasts have natural movement.
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I wonder if Obamacare will cover this?
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Kudos to her. Not only did she have the courage to do it, but she went public so that other people might examine their options as well. Ironically, having the cancer gene means she is high risk for other types of cancer, so the surgery may have been in vain. But she took a proactive measure to prolong her life and, by extension, the lives of many others. Cheers to her for taking such a "selfish" measure. Ayn Rand would have been proud of her.
Not only that, she kept up with her humanitarian work WHILE undergoing treatment:
How Angelina Jolie continued campaigning throughout her treatment (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/10056210/How-Angelina-Jolie-continued-campaigning-throughout-her-treatment.html)
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WoW! Just WoW! She had her breasts removed because she had risk factors? I'll side with 'Relic" and say she's nutty as a fruitcake. I wonder what she'll think when other lymph nodes start responding to those risk factors?
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WoW! Just WoW! She had her breasts removed because she had risk factors? I'll side with 'Relic" and say she's nutty as a fruitcake. I wonder what she'll think when other lymph nodes start responding to those risk factors?
Sometimes - especially if you are a man - it is best to not say anything rather than say something totally ignorant. This has - in fact - become a common surgery for women with a family history and predisposition to breast cancer. and for the cancer to get into the lymph nodes the cancer has to be present in the first place. This is not done for "cosmetic" reasons, and trust me it is very painful.
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and for the cancer to get into the lymph nodes the cancer has to be present in the first place. This is not done for "cosmetic" reasons, and trust me it is very painful.
I am a man. I went through this last September. A large chunk was excised from my right side chest wall and left lung, and it was just hot lymph nodes, not cancer. Please do not tell me I don't know what I am talking about.
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I am a man. I went through this last September. A large chunk was excised from my right side chest wall and left lung, and it was just hot lymph nodes, not cancer. Please do not tell me I don't know what I am talking about.
Still a fact that this is becoming a common surgery for women with a family history of breast cancer.. and if there is no breast tissue then she is not going to have breast cancer to spread to her lymph nodes and to do so does not make her or any other woman who goes through this "nuttier than a fruitcake."
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A former friend of mine was tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. Her material grandmother, both aunts, and three great aunts all died of breast cancer and her mom caught it early enough to beat it after surgery and enough radiation to make Chernobyl glow in the dark. Thankfully for her, she tested negative for either gene, but her younger sister carries both of them, just like her mother. Her sister is going to do the same thing when she turns 30 because the odds are basically 100% she'll get it and it would be an aggressive form. Had her month missed it for another month, it likely would have killed her too.
That said, I really could care less about Angelina Jolie. Never thought she was a good actress or even remotely attractive. It annoyed me that Fox News radio had this as their top story all morning.
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By revealing she went through this and why she does a public service to women who are not aware of the test or the procedure. She could have kept it quiet, afterall she did this in February and no one knew until she came forth.
Also, she does a lot of good humanitarian work around the world and I think to her the acting is secondary to that and her family, acting just pays the bills. She donates huge chunks of her earnings.
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That said, I really could care less about Angelina Jolie. Never thought she was a good actress or even remotely attractive. It annoyed me that Fox News radio had this as their top story all morning.
Wait.....What?? "...not remotely attractive?" Are you a space alien?
(http://images.desimartini.com/media/uploads/angelina_jolie_1358840028_540x540.jpg)
(http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2006/celebdatabase/angelinajolie/angelina_jolie1a_300x400.jpg)
She's a fantastic actress, especially in the action heroine genre.
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By revealing she went through this and why she does a public service to women who are not aware of the test or the procedure. She could have kept it quiet, afterall she did this in February and no one knew until she came forth.
Also, she does a lot of good humanitarian work around the world and I think to her the acting is secondary to that and her family, acting just pays the bills. She donates huge chunks of her earnings.
And she has adopted/rescued two African children that had survived a genocide or famine.....or some disaster. She walks the walk.
I love her. :thud:
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I like her. And I, too, think she is quite beautiful, she has near perfect features. And she seems to really love her children,
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She is one of the few celebs who puts her money and time where her mouth is, and that I respect.
But I still do not care for her acting nor do I find her attractive, especially all of the tats.
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...... nor do I find her attractive, especially all of the tats.
My goodness! Turn off the lights! Close your eyes and hang on! :silly:
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You have your ideas of beauty, I have mine.
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So apparently she is also having a hysterectomy/ovarectomy for the same reasons. I don't think she realizes how much more damage that will do to her; basically it results in instant menopause. A mastectomy is mostly aesthetic, but throwing off her hormones like that without any sign of actual disease is dangerous.
Basically, she can kiss her youth-- and, effectively, her career-- goodbye.
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The way they over come that is as the healing is taking place the breast and surrounding tissues is "massaged" many times during the day to keep the capsule open and unimpinged by scaring from the healing.. when that is done then the breasts heal with a much more natural look and the breasts have natural movement.
Sounds like a potential career-opportunity... :pondering:
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She probably feels that she has more money that she'll ever need, and she'd rather be alive to enjoy it.
She has absolutely nothing to prove.
God bless her and wish her a long healthy life.
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Agreed: God bless her and wish her a long healthy life.
I wish her well.
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Reminded that Christina Applegate had her breasts removed years ago.
She was "Kelly", the sexy blonde teenaged airhead on the risque sitcom "Married with Children".
She had her own show later on, but it has affected her career, IMO.
Even if they had technology to 3D print replacements of her original breasts, because of the seriousness of the disease, I doubt they would dress her in string bikinis.
She...and now Angelina Jolie can become ambassadors for women who struggle to live after radical breast surgery due to cancer.
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So apparently she is also having a hysterectomy/ovarectomy for the same reasons. I don't think she realizes how much more damage that will do to her; basically it results in instant menopause. A mastectomy is mostly aesthetic, but throwing off her hormones like that without any sign of actual disease is dangerous.
Basically, she can kiss her youth-- and, effectively, her career-- goodbye.
I was 30 years old when I had my TOTAL hysterectomy..... in fact I look younger to this day than many people ten or more years younger. A lot of it has to do with your diet and how you take care of yourself and genetics... in addition when you are thrown into surgical menopause you do use replacement hormones. I have taken them for many, many years... when my husband was alive he would inject me weekly with Estradiol, today I use the Estradiol patch - though I prefer the injection as it circulates into my blood stream more rapidly.
BTW one of the worst cancers for a woman is ovarian because it is one of the most difficult to diagnose until it is in an advanced stage. I know several people who have died from it, two from the same family (heridity).....
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She probably feels that she has more money that she'll ever need, and she'd rather be alive to enjoy it.
She has absolutely nothing to prove.
God bless her and wish her a long healthy life.
I disagree, DC. She is using her fame to show there is absolutely no shame in having a mastectomy. The boobs do not the woman make.
God bless and keep her.
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I disagree, DC. She is using her fame to show there is absolutely no shame in having a mastectomy. The boobs do not the woman make.
God bless and keep her.
We don't disagree.
Just think her primary concern was to live....free of the fear of dying from it. :beer:
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E.D. Hill underwent an double mastectomy for the same reason, she is going to be on Bill O'Reilly to discuss it tonight.
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We don't disagree.
Just think her primary concern was to live....free of the fear of dying from it. :beer:
Actually, I'm betting her primary concern was to be there to raise her 6 children. Especially understandable, considering she lost her own mother to cancer.
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Now the "it's not fair" whining begins:
NJ teacher says Angelina Jolie's decision isn't realistic for working women
By TARA PALMERI
Last Updated: 5:22 AM, May 20, 2013
A New Jersey kindergarten teacher with a strong family history of breast cancer blasted Angelina Jolie for giving everyday working women false hope that they, too, can prevent cancer by removing their breasts.
“It upset me,” Debbie Gentile-Abbood said of her reaction to the movie star’s announcement that she underwent a preventative double mastectomy.
“That’s good for her; she’s got the best health care and she’s got money. She doesn’t have to worry about taking off of work. She doesn’t have to worry about taking care of her family, cooking or cleaning — the things that the normal woman would have to do.”
Gentile-Abbood’s mother died of breast cancer at 51. Gentile-Abbood is 51 and fears a similar fate for herself. The working mom from Hawthorne, NJ, said if she knew she had a BRCA gene mutation, she would want to undergo the same procedure, but, like many other middle-class women, “We don’t have that option.”
Gentile-Abbood, who teaches in the Paterson school district, has been the breadwinner for her family since last September, when her husband, Jim, a pipestone fitter, was laid off. She said she’s scared to even get tested because she can’t do anything about the results.
“I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to open that can of worms,” she said.
“If I found out, I couldn’t take care of the situation. What am I supposed to do? Sit around every day and worry that I’m going to get cancer?”
Gentile-Abbood said her physician told her it was unlikely her insurance company would cover any reconstructive surgery, which can cost more than $20,000 out-of-pocket. Another concern for Gentile-Abbood is that she couldn’t afford a plastic surgeon who could give her the same “beautiful” results as Jolie.
“You get what you pay for. If you get a good plastic surgeon, you’re going to get the best,” Gentile-Abbood said. “It’s all about who’s got the money.”
Gentile-Abbood’s twin sister, Donna, recently had precancerous cells removed from her breast. They’re both anxious that they will face the same fate as their mother.
“I’m always worried about getting cancer because I’m at mother’s age when she died,” she said.
“Right now, with my options, I’m doing the best I can, by keeping up with my doctor and getting regular exams. That’s the best option for me right now.”
NY Post (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/everyday_mom_hit_angelina_jsIWH8MaO1GOYE5xhdghLM)
I have to wonder how this woman came to the Post's attention. Did she call to complain about not having money for the same surgery, or is she a friend of the reporter? Why do a story about a woman who doesn't even know whether she has the same genetic problem as Angelina? Very curious.
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There is a whole lot wrong with that teachers comments.. one as a teacher they have excellent health insurance, second they get three months off in the summer - three she has no one to help her for a few months (husband, mother, sister?) and last - as you mentioned - get the test before you whine.
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NY Post:
Jolie shuns TV
Last Updated: 12:12 AM, May 23, 2013
Posted: 12:04 AM, May 23, 2013
Not even Ann Curry could curry favor with Angelina Jolie for an interview with the actress about her voluntary double mastectomy. We hear NBC pushed the network news correspondent to get the first television chat with Jolie, following her shocking announcement last week that she’d had the surgery. But Jolie’s turned down Curry, and every other news outlet, for now.
The NBC journalist had a long-standing relationship with Jolie and Brad Pitt, having interviewed them several times. After Curry was fired from the “Today” show last year, Jolie made it known that she wouldn’t speak with anyone else at the network. NBC declined to comment last night.
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http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/05/26/angelina-jolie-aunt-dies-breast-cancer-days-after-actress-mastectomy-op-ed/?cmpid=prn_zap2it
Angelina Jolie's aunt dies of breast cancer days after actress' mastectomy op-ed
Published May 26, 2013
This March 8, 2012 file photo shows actress Angelina Jolie at the Women in the World Summit in New York. Jolie says that she has had a preventive double mastectomy after learning she carried a gene that made it extremely likely she would get breast cancer. (AP)
LOS ANGELES – Less than two weeks after Angelina Jolie revealed she'd had a double mastectomy to avoid breast cancer, her aunt died from the disease Sunday.
Debbie Martin died at age 61 at a hospital in Escondido, Calif. near San Diego, her husband, Ron Martin, told The Associated Press.
Debbie Martin was the younger sister of Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, whose own death from ovarian cancer in 2007 inspired the surgery that Jolie described in a May 14 op-ed in the New York Times.
According to her husband, Debbie Martin had the same defective BRCA1 gene that Jolie does, but didn't know it until after her 2004 cancer diagnosis.
"Had we known, we certainly would have done exactly what Angelina did," Ron Martin said in a phone interview.
Debbie Martin's death was first reported by E! News.
Ron Martin said after getting breast cancer, Debbie Martin had her ovaries removed preventively because she was also at very high genetic risk for ovarian cancer, which has killed several women in her family.
The 37-year-old Jolie said in her op-ed that her doctors estimated that she had a 50 percent risk of getting ovarian cancer but an 87 percent risk of breast cancer so she had her breasts removed first, reducing her likelihood to a mere 5 percent.
She described the three-step surgical process in detail in the op-ed "because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience."
The story, a surprise to most save those closest to Jolie, spurred a broad discussion of genetic testing and pre-emptive surgery.
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According to her husband, Debbie Martin had the same defective BRCA1 gene that Jolie does, but didn't know it until after her 2004 cancer diagnosis.
The prevalence of the BRCA1 mutation among non-Hispanic whites is actually estimated to be extremely low (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15598764).
While BRCA1 carriers may be encouraged to undergo the Jolie-surgery, the overwhelming majority of breast-cancer sufferers do not carry this mutation.
This is, more likely, simply promoting the genetic test by the company that is attempting to patent the BRCA1 gene and owns the sole-right to administer the $3,000 test, Myriad Genetics (a Utah-based genetics firm) before that right is terminated.