You may have noticed recently that the media can’t stop mentioning Angelina Jolie. For those of you who may not know her, she is an A-list actress who is well known for her adoptions and charity work in Third World countries. She also underwent a double mastectomy in February after learning that she has the BRCA 1 gene mutation.
This procedure makes Jolie a “previvor.” She doesn’t have cancer, but the gene mutation gave her an 85 percent chance that she would eventually be diagnosed with it. She underwent the procedure with that in mind, and it was only a matter of time before her attention shifted to ovaries. This is because the BRCA 1 gene doesn’t just cause breast cancer; the mutation also causes ovarian cancer.
To be a previvor of that as well, Jolie plans to have both of her ovaries removed.
Despite drawing inspiration from her decisions, readers should remember that normal women make these decisions every day. And whereas Jolie has enough money to not bat an eye at surgeries and a giant family already (a mix of biological and adopted children), most women must worry about financial concerns and family expansion. Also, it is still possible for Jolie to contract breast or ovarian cancer elsewhere in her body.
But thanks to her, women are becoming more aware of these “previvor” possibilities and the importance of genetic testing.
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