Angelina Jolie: Another Cancer Scare; Had Ovaries Removed
Two years after Angelina Jolie revealed she’d undergone a preventative double mastectomy, the actress had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.
In an essay written for the New York Times, the 39-year-old actress reveals that while she’d been planning the surgery for some time, preparing herself “physically and emotionally” for the early menopause that would follow, but believed she had months to schedule the procedure. Then doctors noticed an increase in inflammatory markers in a blood test.
Husband Brad Pitt flew in (from France) immediately.
Angelina writes:
“I called my husband in France, who was on a plane within hours. The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity. You know what you live for and what matters. It is polarizing, and it is peaceful.
“That same day I went to see the surgeon, who had treated my mother. I last saw her the day my mother passed away, and she teared up when she saw me: “You look just like her.” I broke down. But we smiled at each other and agreed we were there to deal with any problem, so “let’s get on with it.”
When Angelina chose to undergo a pre-emptive double mastectomy in 2013, she noted it was because a “blood test had revealed that I carried a mutation in the BRCA1 gene” that gave her “an estimated 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.”
She continues, “I did not do this solely because I carry the BRCA1 gene mutation, and I want other women to hear this. A positive BRCA test does not mean a leap to surgery.”
“In my case, the Eastern and Western doctors I met agreed that surgery to remove my tubes and ovaries was the best option, because on top of the BRCA gene, three women in my family have died from cancer.”
Angelina’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died at age 56 after a nearly decade-long battle with ovarian cancer.
The actress says she chose to keep her uterus as she has no family history with cancer there.