Angelina Jolie’s mastectomy raises awareness of gene testing

It was an extraordinarily public declaration of an incredibly private experience. But when Angelina Jolie took to the comment pages of the New York Times to declare that she had undergone a double mastectomy, she spearheaded a new awareness of gene testing as a guard against the possibility of breast cancer.

Doctors and medical experts specialising in the disease welcomed her announcement as a way of raising the profile of the test, but warned that for most women it would not be relevant as the gene mutation she has inherited is so rare.

In her account, published on Wednesday, Jolie appealed for greater access for gene testing and lifesaving preventive treatment and encourages women to explore their options.

The actor has a defective gene, BRCA1, which doctors told her increased her risk of developing breast cancer to 87%; it also increased her risk of ovarian cancer.

The surgery, which began in February, had reduced Jolie’s risk of breast cancer to less than 5%. “I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer,” she wrote. “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.

For more on this please read original source TheGuardian

Serious moment to thank Angelina Jolie for coming forward to help others by sharing her personal story of courage. Revealing she recently underwent a preventive double mastectomy http://bit.ly/13WZBjl