What we can ALL learn from brave Angelina
The deeply difficult decision Angelina Jolie faced over her mastectomy confronts, day in and day out, hundreds of women up and down the country. Women of all ages, all social groups, with or without children, who have a strong family history of breast cancer, will have discovered that they too are carriers of the BRCA gene.
This makes them particularly prone to developing full-blown breast cancer, and one option is to have a double mastectomy before any evidence of cancer appears. As a doctor, I know all too well how frightened people are when they get diagnosed with cancer. But the prospect of having a mastectomy, before you even develop cancer, can be equally daunting.
In facing that decision, and in opting to have the procedure, Angelina Jolie is no more or less brave than these unknown countless others. But as a glamorous and beautiful celebrity she has been extraordinarily brave in publicly announcing her surgery and it is right that she is applauded for her courage. Her bravery is that, in addition to the burden of the decision, she has risked her ‘body beautiful’ status and gone public for the good of others.
She is not just an ordinary celebrity or public figure. Her world is one in which her appearance is seen to have more value, more currency than that of ordinary woman. Yet she has faced the shallow values of that world head on – and has sent a very powerful message to women and men everywhere. Knowing her family history of the disease – Angelina Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of cancer aged just 56, and she faced an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer – the actress’s world was never going to be the same again.
Choosing to live without breasts is devastatingly hard for any woman, but just as difficult is living with the fear that an aggressive breast cancer might well be silently developing.
Of course, there is a possibility that she might never have developed cancer. But it is the unknown that makes such a choice even harder. We have statistics thrown at us all the time, but are very bad at interpreting them. A 50 per cent risk does not mean that it will happen. Even a 95 per cent probability of developing a condition means that one in 20 people will avoid it – and you might be one of them.
After all, those who smoke face such risks and choose to ignore them: 86 per cent of lung cancers (almost nine in 10) are tobacco related, and yet the addiction makes smokers believe it won’t happen to them. Ultimately, we have to be brave enough to make our own choices. To make such choices we need accurate information and we need to weigh up all the unknowns as well as the knowns. Angelina Jolie faced the reality of the risk she was presented with, weighed it up and made her decision. And by going public she has stated that nothing on this earth – no amount of money and fame – protects you from the reality of disease, death, and some desperately difficult decisions.
Angelina, Brad Pitt and their family
She has also made a very powerful statement about the superficiality of beauty. She has shown that it does not depend on the ‘perfect body’.
Look at her on the cover of this magazine, taken post-surgery. Her eyes have depth, reveal her maturity of soul and depth of personality. She is truly beautiful.
She has stated that love and support from a partner are more important than all their celebrity awards; that the human qualities in a tender relationship are what really matter.
Her ‘going public’ will benefit countless others. It will help women struggling with similar decisions. She has restored the human values of love and support in a relationship. She has stated to the world that a woman is no less a woman after surgery, that tabloid ‘Page 3 breasts’ are not symbols of being a woman.
She has also removed an element of fear from a condition that people used not to speak about. When I first qualified as a doctor, cancer was not spoken of – euphemisms such as ‘little lump’ or ‘growth’ were mentioned in hushed tones.
But Angelina Jolie has pushed on the conversation about cancer and preventative mastectomies. She has made it truly public. Women facing the same choice now have an iconic role model. They can know that Angelina Jolie was no less of a woman after a mastectomy, so why should they be?
She is to be commended for using her fame for the good of others and should take great pride and comfort in knowing that she has supported so many women she will never know. That is a rare and wonderful thing.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff is a professor of palliative medicine, a past president of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the House of Lords.
In 2003, she established the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP) with her partner Brad Pitt, for the conservation of Camodia’s endangered Cardamom Mountains’ northern territory (forests, freshwater ecosystems and endangered species). She also donated $1m to Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organisation.
She has been named a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), was the first recipient of the Citizen Of The World Award and was awarded the Global Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Association of the USA in 2005. She also co-chairs the Education Partnership For Children Of Conflict.
In 2008, to mark the first anniversary of her mother’s death from cancer, she and her brother James Haven made a sizeable donation to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA.Why I had a masectomy, by Caroline Presho
Caroline, 39, lives in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, with her husband and four children.
‘I discovered I had the faulty BRCA gene in 2007. There are a lot of cases of cancer in our family history, and after my aunt was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, my sister and I were encouraged to get tested.
‘We were both found to have the faulty gene. I was only 33 at the time, and it was scary and felt like having two ticking time bombs in my chest. At 35 I had my breasts screened, and once I got the all-clear, I resolved to have surgery. I wanted to get rid of them before they got rid of me. I was so happy and relieved after the surgery, it felt as if a weight had literally been cut off. I went from an 85 per cent risk of breast cancer to 2 per cent, which is less than the general population.
‘I had reconstructive surgery immediately and I actually like my breasts far more now than I did before. More importantly, I’m healthy.’
For more information: www.brcaumbrella.ning.com
This makes them particularly prone to developing full-blown breast cancer, and one option is to have a double mastectomy before any evidence of cancer appears. As a doctor, I know all too well how frightened people are when they get diagnosed with cancer. But the prospect of having a mastectomy, before you even develop cancer, can be equally daunting.
In facing that decision, and in opting to have the procedure, Angelina Jolie is no more or less brave than these unknown countless others. But as a glamorous and beautiful celebrity she has been extraordinarily brave in publicly announcing her surgery and it is right that she is applauded for her courage. Her bravery is that, in addition to the burden of the decision, she has risked her ‘body beautiful’ status and gone public for the good of others.
She is not just an ordinary celebrity or public figure. Her world is one in which her appearance is seen to have more value, more currency than that of ordinary woman. Yet she has faced the shallow values of that world head on – and has sent a very powerful message to women and men everywhere. Knowing her family history of the disease – Angelina Jolie’s mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died of cancer aged just 56, and she faced an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer – the actress’s world was never going to be the same again.
Choosing to live without breasts is devastatingly hard for any woman, but just as difficult is living with the fear that an aggressive breast cancer might well be silently developing.
Of course, there is a possibility that she might never have developed cancer. But it is the unknown that makes such a choice even harder. We have statistics thrown at us all the time, but are very bad at interpreting them. A 50 per cent risk does not mean that it will happen. Even a 95 per cent probability of developing a condition means that one in 20 people will avoid it – and you might be one of them.
After all, those who smoke face such risks and choose to ignore them: 86 per cent of lung cancers (almost nine in 10) are tobacco related, and yet the addiction makes smokers believe it won’t happen to them. Ultimately, we have to be brave enough to make our own choices. To make such choices we need accurate information and we need to weigh up all the unknowns as well as the knowns. Angelina Jolie faced the reality of the risk she was presented with, weighed it up and made her decision. And by going public she has stated that nothing on this earth – no amount of money and fame – protects you from the reality of disease, death, and some desperately difficult decisions.
Angelina, Brad Pitt and their familyShe has also made a very powerful statement about the superficiality of beauty. She has shown that it does not depend on the ‘perfect body’.
Look at her on the cover of this magazine, taken post-surgery. Her eyes have depth, reveal her maturity of soul and depth of personality. She is truly beautiful.
She has stated that love and support from a partner are more important than all their celebrity awards; that the human qualities in a tender relationship are what really matter.
Her ‘going public’ will benefit countless others. It will help women struggling with similar decisions. She has restored the human values of love and support in a relationship. She has stated to the world that a woman is no less a woman after surgery, that tabloid ‘Page 3 breasts’ are not symbols of being a woman.
She has also removed an element of fear from a condition that people used not to speak about. When I first qualified as a doctor, cancer was not spoken of – euphemisms such as ‘little lump’ or ‘growth’ were mentioned in hushed tones.
But Angelina Jolie has pushed on the conversation about cancer and preventative mastectomies. She has made it truly public. Women facing the same choice now have an iconic role model. They can know that Angelina Jolie was no less of a woman after a mastectomy, so why should they be?
She is to be commended for using her fame for the good of others and should take great pride and comfort in knowing that she has supported so many women she will never know. That is a rare and wonderful thing.
Baroness Finlay of Llandaff is a professor of palliative medicine, a past president of the Royal Society of Medicine and a member of the House of Lords.
Angelina Jolie's charities
Angelina Jolie has supported around 30 charities, including the Alliance For The Lost Boys Of Sudan, Cancer Schmancer Movement, and Yéle Haiti Foundation. She has been on numerous field missions and has met refugees in more than 20 countries.In 2003, she established the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP) with her partner Brad Pitt, for the conservation of Camodia’s endangered Cardamom Mountains’ northern territory (forests, freshwater ecosystems and endangered species). She also donated $1m to Doctors Without Borders, an international medical humanitarian organisation.
She has been named a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), was the first recipient of the Citizen Of The World Award and was awarded the Global Humanitarian Action Award by the United Nations Association of the USA in 2005. She also co-chairs the Education Partnership For Children Of Conflict.
In 2008, to mark the first anniversary of her mother’s death from cancer, she and her brother James Haven made a sizeable donation to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in LA.
Why I had a masectomy, by Caroline Presho
Caroline, 39, lives in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, with her husband and four children.‘I discovered I had the faulty BRCA gene in 2007. There are a lot of cases of cancer in our family history, and after my aunt was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, my sister and I were encouraged to get tested.
‘We were both found to have the faulty gene. I was only 33 at the time, and it was scary and felt like having two ticking time bombs in my chest. At 35 I had my breasts screened, and once I got the all-clear, I resolved to have surgery. I wanted to get rid of them before they got rid of me. I was so happy and relieved after the surgery, it felt as if a weight had literally been cut off. I went from an 85 per cent risk of breast cancer to 2 per cent, which is less than the general population.
‘I had reconstructive surgery immediately and I actually like my breasts far more now than I did before. More importantly, I’m healthy.’
For more information: www.brcaumbrella.ning.com