What do you think of Angelina Jolie's recent decision to have a double mastectomy?
If you are a woman and had the same test results, would you have made the same decision? If you're a man, would you want your wife/significant other to do the same?
First of all, I just want to express my empathy for Ms. Jolie. It must require an exorbitant amount of courage for her to arrive at the decision she did. I believe that her significant other will be very supportive, speaking volumes about who and what this couple is all about.
Secondly, I don't have any input of substance regarding her decision except to state that I support any individual's free will and inherent right to govern their lives as they deem best AS LONG AS it doesn't infringe on the free will and rights of others.
Thirdly, I'm just sad that in my lifetime, I may not see a cure for this dreaded disease.
Finally, to all the brave women who are gallant survivors--my deepest aloha, respect, and primal cheers go out to each and every one of you!
Thank you, Karen, for posing this challenging question.
Joe
I agree with you about a cure not being found soon and how depressing that is. It's such a terrible disease.
No way. She's going to die one day anyway...this procedure won't stop that from happening.
Yes and yes. Her chances of getting this disease were great. I think her being proactive shows a great amount of courage. I'm sure she saved herself many, many more years to spend with her children and all that love and care for her. May God be with her.
I am a breast cancer survivor and have had a partial mastectomy. I admire Angelina for her decision, but totally disagree with it. I am concerned that if Ange goes through with it, she is sending a wrong message - that breast cancer is too hard to bear and not survivable. I know from my own experience that this is not true. Yes, the treatments are horrible to go through and hard on the body and the family, but the pain is temporary. I had a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer, but with current treatments, have an excellent prognosis. Have been cancer-free for about a year and a half now. I don't believe in "preventative" breast surgery. Surgery is risky and recovery is tough - believe me, I know! There are medications Ange can take to reduce the risk. Also, there is no guarantee that the cancer will not show up somewhere else, such as the lymph nodes in my case. I am all for treatment, but only when necessary.
Congratulations on being a breast cancer survivor. From what I have read, she's already had the surgery. I don't know about her ovaries. Maybe they'll come next? I'm shocked about this and don't have an official opinion but I think she's very brave.
Hello Karen. I think that it took Angelina a great deal of courage to do what she did. I believe more than anything she did it with her children in mind. She stated that her children asked her if she would die like her mother did and she said that now she can tell her children that she won't die from breast cancer. That being said the test she took to determine her chances of developing cancer came back 87% positive for breast cancer and 50% for ovarian cancer. She did not say anything about having a hysterectomy which is strange because her chances of surviving ovarian cancer is far less than surviving breast cancer if caught in time. The point I want to make is that when there is a strong history of cancer in the family, it doesn't necessarily mean that the cancer will develop in the same place that your family member had it. I have personally known members of families that developed cancer in various parts of their bodies (breast, throat and thyroid). So, although I respect her courage, I don't know if it was the best decision. (I believe Christina Applegate and Sharon Osbourne did the same thing).
Yes, it would be awful if she went through this, and then developed some other form of cancer. I do think she is very brave though, first to do this and then to go public with it. Of course if she didn't, people would find out anyway.
I think that it is insane. I'm in half a mind as to whether it even happened. NO WAY would I do that, not in a million years.
I would and do pay most attention to my diet. Cancer thrives in an acid environment, try and keep the body and diet as alkaline as possible and your one step ahead.
I often feel that no matter what we do, cancer strikes most people eventually anyway. It's so sad.
I have the utmost respect and admiration for Angelina's decision. I'm certain that she and her spouse really agonized, researched, sought counsel, and prayed over how to handle her medical delimma. Medical Science has progressed so much that we are now able to do genetic analysis and in turn learn what diseases or medical malfunctions we are likely to be stricken with. Preventive medicine is much better than trying to affect a cure. An 87% chance of having breast cancer is very high. Without her natural breast she has a 100% chance of survival. The same is true of ovarian cancer. Researchers have spent millions and millions of dollars and expended thousands of hours in trying to find a cure for cancer. This new technology enables us to know what mutated genes lurk in our bodies so that we can live longer and healthier lives. Heart disease runs rampart in my maternal family. If I were to be tested and learned that my chances of heart disease or a heart attack were 87%, I would be willing to have a surgery or other procedure if one becomes available to lessen or totally eliminate the chance of my having a heart attack and dying. To answer your question, I would have the surgery just as Angelina did. I am heavily into health and fitness. I am 5'4",and weigh 115 lbs. I walk/jog (8) miles per day. I swim (3) times per week. I do aerobic dancing (3) times per week in (2) hour segments. I follow a healthy diet. I eat beef on the average of (2) times per month. I eat mostly veggies, fruits, nuts, fowl and sea food. Yet, my cholesterol was 300 before I was prescribed Crestor. My doctor tells that my problem is genetic and that I will in all probability die of heart disease. So,even though we may do all that we can to prevent cancer or any disease, genetics play a huge role in our destiny. God bless all of the breast cancer survivors out there, we love and are with you.
Wow, you certainly are active and take good care of yourself. I am sad for your prognosis. Thank you for your heartfelt comment.
I had 2 cancer scares in 3 years (we had cancer in our family, I expect to fight it one day) and 2 biopsies. If I knew I had the gene and the 'chance' to get the cancer (especially in her case when her mother died of it), I'd remove everything I can to increase my chances of a longer life.
She already had kids, she's not 20 anymore, so she can clearly go through life with the new breasts, even if they're not 'natural'. There are many women who augment their breast everyday just to be more 'sexy', she's done the work to remove the 'chance' of getting cancer.
It's a horribly hard decision to take, but I do understand it and hope she'll have a long fulfilling life. Having a wonderful supportive husband surely makes all the difference.
by Jill Spencer 8 years ago
Does Angelina Jolie's passive-aggressive tweet re the Paris attacks tick you off, too?As the world reacts in horror, sadness and anger over the Paris attacks, Jolie tweeted, "Whilst everyone talks about #Paris no one mentions the #ISIS attack in #Lebanon yesterday. I pray for both...
by Novascotiamiss 11 years ago
Angelina's breast removal came as a big shock to the world. After all, she didn't actually have breast cancer but made her decision based on her supposedly great risk of developing breast cancer. To some people Angelina Jolie has become a role model for women while for others, she's a...
by Sunshiney31 14 years ago
I have 5 nodules 3 in one breast and 2 in the other.Last year at my yearly exam they were not there,so the Dr is very concerned.I go in on Monday for a mammogram.I'm pretty dag on nervous.I knew of one of the lumps and that is why I made the appointment.Honestly I though maybe I was just imagining...
by Queen_Kevyn95 14 years ago
do you think it's fair for my boyfriend to have to support me even though i may have cancer? we arei may have breast cancer, and if i start treatments im not sure if it's fair to my boyfriend to have to take me out and go through the trauma with me, especially since we're only teens. my mom...
by Sarah Chewings 7 years ago
What do you think of Angelina's decision to publicly discuss her recent surgery?Angelina Jolie has disclosed that she has recently undergone double mastectomy surgery, to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer. It has reduced her chances from 87% to less than 5%, and I feel that her decision...
by Melanie Palen 7 years ago
What are the chances of getting breast cancer with a negative BRCA?I had the BRCA test done to check for the genetic malformation that relates to a high incidence of breast cancers. My test was negative. What are the chances I could still develop reproductive cancers, particularly breast and...
Copyright © 2024 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2024 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |