Angelina Jolie has taken a big leap in her endeavor to prevent succumbing to cancer like her mother and grandmother.
Last week, the actress and philanthropist decided to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a preventive measure. She wrote an op-ed for The New York Times detailing her experience.
Jolie previously went through a preventive double mastectomy last 2013. The "Unbroken" director chose to have both breasts removed so as not to follow the fate of her mother, grandmother and aunt.
"I wanted other women at risk to know about the options. I promised to follow up with any information that could be useful, including about my next preventive surgery, the removal of my ovaries and fallopian tubes," Jolie-Pitt wrote.
Two weeks ago, she received a phone call from her doctor about the result of her recent blood test. The test revealed that she carried a mutation in the BRCA1 gene which gave her an estimated 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.
She also admitted that she had been planning the surgery for quite some time. Although the surgery is less complex than the mastectomy, its effects are worse; one of which is forced menopause. Angelina Jolie talked about preparing herself physically and emotionally by having thorough discussions with her doctors, researching alternative medicine and mapping her hormones for estrogen and progesterone replacement.
"I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt. I told myself to stay calm, to be strong, and that I had no reason to think I wouldn't live to see my children grow up and to meet my grandchildren," the actress confessed when she learned about her test results.
"It is not easy to make these decisions. But it is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue. You can seek advice, learn about the options and make choices that are right for you. Knowledge is power," she concluded.
