Los Angeles,March 25: In an emotional and op-ed piece for The New York Times, Angelina Jolie Pitt has spoken about her decision to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a measure to prevent uterine cancer. Two years back, the actress had undergone a double mastectomy surgery, too, as a preventive step, since, writes Jolie, “A simple blood test had revealed that I carried a mutation in the BRCA1 gene. It gave me an estimated 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer. I lost my mother, grandmother and aunt to cancer.”
The 39-year-old actress-filmmaker has written about her decision to get her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, and that she “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.”
The step meant being forced into menopause, and at 39, Jolie says she’ll not be able to have any more children. And that on the day she received her PET/CT scan results, and the tumour tests were negative, she “was full of happiness, although the radioactive tracer meant I couldn’t hug my children.” Jolie writes that she had the choice of getting her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed, and she chose to go ahead with the surgery, which was ‘less complex than the mastectomy’.
ways to strengthen my immune system. I feel feminine, and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say, “Mom died of ovarian cancer.””
Jolie signs off with the adage ‘Knowledge is power’, and asks women to tackle health problems head-on, seek advice and learn about the options and choices.
