How Angelina’s mastectomy brings hope to others

The 37-year-old Hollywood star said she took the decision to have the procedure because she carries the “faulty” gene BRCA1, which sharply increases her risk of developing breast cancer and ovarian cancer.

“My doctors estimated that I had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman,” she wrote in an article for the New York Times.

The Tomb Raider actress and humanitarian campaigner said she was writing about her ordeal in the hope that other women might benefit from her experience.

The star, in an article entitled My Medical Choice, said she finished the three months of medical procedures on April 27, and added: “During that time I have been able to keep this private and to carry on with my work.”

She paid tribute her “loving and supportive” partner Brad Pitt.

“I am fortunate to have a partner, Brad Pitt, who is so loving and supportive,” she wrote.

“So to anyone who has a wife or girlfriend going through this, know that you are a very important part of the transition.

“Brad was at the Pink Lotus Breast Centre, where I was treated, for every minute of the surgeries.

“We managed to find moments to laugh together. We knew this was the right thing to do for our family and that it would bring us closer. And it has.”

Jolie, whose mother had cancer and died at 56, said waking up from the operation can feel “like a scene out of a science-fiction film” .

She said the decision to have the mastectomy was not easy but that she was happy to have gone ahead with it.

Urging women to get checked out, the star said: “For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options.

“I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.”

Liberty X singer Michelle Heaton, who under went a double mastectomy last year, hailed Jolie’s decision to publicise her double mastectomy as “incredibly important” in raising awareness and giving encouragement to women in a similar situation.

“I can’t even stress how much of an impact I had, saying that I was going through this, on women - especially through Twitter and people writing to me.

“It was such a huge impact and I know that I have had hundreds of women who have gone for this test and subsequently found that they had the BRCA gene and they can then make an informed decision,” she told ITV’s Daybreak.

“Imagine what impact somebody as huge as Angelina Jolie can have on this.

“I really do think that the BRCA gene has only really come to light over the last year or two. It is a massive thing that women need to learn about and know that, if this runs in your family, you need to go and get tested because there are huge options and the options available are incredibly amazing - it shouldn’t be too scary for you if you have the right information.”

Heaton said the options available to women in a similar situation were “amazing”.

“What they did with myself was unbelievable. I don’t know what I was expecting after the operation, but what I was given, what I saw in the mirror, just was fabulous.

“As a woman to not look down and see something that made me cry every day - what I see is something that looks relatively normal, that looks like myself.”

Wendy Watson, who founded the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline, from near Bakewell, Derbyshire, also praised Jolie for her decision to write publicly about her operation.

“It is excellent, because it is the highest profile you can get for it,” she said. “It raises the profile for other women to look to if they have a family history and would benefit from being screened more frequently, or having surgery or having a genetic test,” she said.

“She (Jolie) probably feels that under going the operation is common sense but it probably does take a certain amount of courage to face it.”

Foreign Secretary William Hague, who in March visited refugee camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Jolie as part of a campaign to highlight the problem of mass rape in conflict areas, said she was “a brave lady” who would be “an inspiration to many”.

Mr Hague told Sky News: “She is a courageous lady and a very professional lady. She’s done a lot of work with me in recent months.

“She also came over to the G8 foreign ministers’ summit in London to work with me on our initiative on preventing sexual violence in conflict and travelled with me through some difficult places in the Congo.

“She gave no sign that she was undergoing such treatment and I think she’s a very brave lady, not only to carry on with her work so well during such treatment, but also to write about it now and talk about it. I think that she’s a brave lady and will be an inspiration to many.”

Former X Factor judge Sharon Osbourne revealed last November that she had undergone the same operation.

Osbourne, 60, had already battled colon cancer a decade ago and took the decision after finding out she carries a gene which increases the risk of developing breast cancer.

In an interview at the time, she said: ‘’As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought: ‘The odds are not in my favour’.

‘’I’ve had cancer before and I didn’t want to live under that cloud: I decided to just take everything off, and had a double mastectomy.’’

Jolie said in her article that the decision to have a mastectomy was “not easy” but she was very happy that she had made it.

She said her chances of developing breast cancer had dropped from 87% to under 5%.

“I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer,” she said.

Dr Richard Francis, head of research at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: “We’re sorry to hear that Angelina has the BRCA1 gene fault.

“For women like Angelina it’s important that they are made fully aware of all the options that are available, including risk-reducing surgery and extra breast screening.

“Though Angelina decided that a preventative mastectomy was the right choice for her, this may not be the case for another woman in a similar situation.

“We urge anyone who is worried about their risk of breast cancer to talk it through with their doctor.”

He said BRCA gene faults are rare and in most cases are linked to family history.

“Thanks to great advances in research we’re able to pinpoint when people like Angelina are BRCA carriers and therefore at risk,” he said.

“However we do need to continue vital research into breast cancer so women at high risk have even more, potentially less-invasive, prevention options.

“At Breakthrough Breast Cancer we’re dedicated to breast cancer research and ensuring better outcomes for patients in the future.”

Baroness Delyth Morgan, chief executive of Breast Cancer Campaign, said: “Angelina’s openness in talking about her own experience and her decision to have surgery raises crucial awareness of breast cancer and its genetic risk.

“Deciding whether to have preventative surgery is a heart-rending decision for women like Angelina but we know it’s a vital way of saving lives.

“This is a stark reminder of how much more research we need to do to give women more knowledge, choice and life-saving options to reduce their risk.

“If you are at all concerned that you may have an inherited mutation in your family and want further advice, your GP will be able to provide more information and help.”