14 May: Angelina Jolie goes public about her preventative surgery because she carries the BRCA gene mutation
Reading Angelina Jolie's op-ed in the New York Times, in which she told the world about the preventative surgery she has undergone, I was impressed by her ability to blend such a vulnerable revelation with a confident, life-affirming tone. Her decision to go public about her medical treatment was stunning – brave, bold and gorgeous. Raising awareness elevates the level of understanding and diminishes the level of fear.
Blogging about the various procedures that Angelina underwent on our clinic website was fun for me. I had her permission to reveal details of her treatment in my blog and it was great to be able to educate about the BRCA gene mutation, to demystify the confusing process of mastectomies and to help others make well-informed decisions.
If people take anything from this, it should be this simple message: a BRCA gene mutation makes your risk for breast and ovarian cancer incredibly high. To find out if you should be tested (via a simple blood or saliva test), take a one-minute quiz at brcagenetest.com.
Being involved in Angelina's recovery felt like making an improbable game-saving play – exciting that I can do something important not for myself but for the team. It's had real impact, too. In the five weeks following Angelina's announcement 3,000 more women sought testing than would have been expected. This may have saved as many as 300 lives in those first weeks alone.
I never felt worried about the public scrutiny of Angelina's reconstructive surgery. She had already passed the test: she made countless appearances between 2 February and 14 May, while her treatment was underway, and no one suspected a thing! I remember watching a video of her eloquent speech at the G8 Summit in London in April – as she spoke in front of the world's leading foreign ministers, I stared at what I knew were tissue expanders and thought: "Nope, no one can tell."
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/29/2013-eyewitness-accounts-angelina-jolie-breast-cancer
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