Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Angelina Jolie: I had double mastectomy to avoid breast cancer

Jolie said she made the decision to have a double mastectomy after learning she had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer – the same disease that claimed her mother’s life in 2007.

Jolie said she made the decision to have a double mastectomy after learning she had an 87 per cent chance of developing breast cancer, the same disease that claimed her mother’s life in 2007. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

ACTRESS ANGELINA JOLIE has revealed that she has undergone a preventive double mastectomy to reduce her risk of contracting breast cancer.

Jolie said she was speaking out to encourage other women with a family history of cancer — her mother died of it age 56 — to seek out information from doctors and make informed choices about their bodies.

She said she managed to keep the issue quiet and keep working. “But I am writing about it now because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience,” she said.

The 37-year-old American actress wrote in an opinion piece entitled “My Medical Choice” in The New York Times that she had chosen the procedure because she carries a faulty gene that increases her risk of both breast and ovarian cancer.

Jolie, one of Hollywood’s best-known faces and the partner of actor Brad Pitt, said that because of this gene, known as BRCA1, her doctors estimated she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer.

“Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimise the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy,” she wrote.

“I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex,” Jolie wrote.

She said that on April 27 she completed the three months of medical procedures that the mastectomies involved.

Chances of developing breast cancer now down to five per cent

Jolie said her chances of developing breast cancer are now down to five per cent.

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

Jolie and Pitt have three adopted and three biological children.

Jolie described a two-stage surgical process, the second of which is an operation that can take up to eight hours as the breast tissue is removed and temporary fillers are put in place.

“You wake up with drain tubes and expanders in your breasts. It does feel like a scene out of a science fiction film. But days after surgery you can be back to a normal life,” Jolie wrote.

Jolie said Pitt has been a huge source of support — “we managed to find moments to laugh together,” she said — and she has only small scars after the ordeal, with nothing alarming for her children to see.

“On a personal note, I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.”

Jolie, one of the world’s highest paid performers, said the cost of getting tested for BRCA1 and another faulty gene, called BRCA2, is more than $3,000 in the United States and that this “remains an obstacle for many women.”

She said she hopes women living under the threat of cancer will be able to get tested.

“Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of,” Jolie wrote.

- © AFP, 2013

Please see the Irish Cancer Society’s website for more information about breast cancer and ovarian cancer

Author
View 46 comments
Close
46 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute whitewater
    Favourite whitewater
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 7:51 PM

    Proof the vaccine strategy hasn’t worked and that government are just giving themselves more power.

    632
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tomo
    Favourite Tomo
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 7:56 PM

    @whitewater: Not necessarily proof of that but it does set a precedent.

    105
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neil Neart
    Favourite Neil Neart
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:29 PM

    @whitewater: The whole country us waiting for a detailed explanation, as opposed to a general fob off, as to why the successful vaccine roll out has only partially worked. Many expected full freedoms to be restored when 75% were vaccinated. We have more than 90% jabbed yet… We need an independent investigation of all Govt messaging including online comments by anonymous people supporting and praising NPHET, Harris, the CMO, and all Government decisions. Have we been manipulated and/or been deliberately deceived? Who knew? Who sanctioned it?

    486
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrumpyAulFella
    Favourite GrumpyAulFella
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:22 PM

    @Neil Neart: we don’t have 90% of the population jabbed. We have 75% of the population jabbed and any suggestion of being “out of this” at 75% was before the Delta variant made an appearance.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Quinn
    Favourite James Quinn
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:36 PM

    This legislation must be opposed by anyone who is in any way, shape or form interested in democracy.
    Stevie Wonder can see whats happening with this.

    496
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute William Tallon
    Favourite William Tallon
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:51 PM

    @James Quinn: Or as one might say to the Dáil and Seanad in this case ‘A plague on both your houses…’

    84
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Considine
    Favourite John Considine
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:53 PM

    @James Quinn: I’m thinking it shouldn’t be a problem. There is almost no way Michael D won’t refer this to the Council of State, the powers granted create serious constitutional issues, especially when they are combined into a single bill without a firm end date.

    By the time the Supreme Court can hear the case all of the current provisions will have expired anyway. I’m not really sure why they think they can pass this, I guess time will tell.

    71
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anna Carr
    Favourite Anna Carr
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 10:51 PM

    @James Quinn: I don’t agree. People are not following the rules. They haven’t since the beginning. Their holidays and nights out are uppermost in their thoughts. If everyone had done what was required, I firmly believe that things wouldn’t be as bad. You’re like someone who’s sick and the doctor gives you medicine, you refuse to take the medicine and then blame the doctor because you’re still sick. Can nobody see this?

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrumpyAulFella
    Favourite GrumpyAulFella
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:24 PM

    @James Quinn: interested in democracy. We have democratically elected politicians making these Laws. It’s pure democracy at work. Only fascists would have an issue with it.

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute William Tallon
    Favourite William Tallon
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:51 PM

    @GrumpyAulFella: So if you don’t like what the democratically elected government is doing and say so that makes you a fascist? I thought it was your democratic right to object but seemingly in your world that makes you a fascist. You clearly have no idea what fascism as a political philosopy actually is and are using the term fascist lazily and erroneously.

    113
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hear me now
    Favourite Hear me now
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 8:03 AM

    @Anna Carr: imagine…work work work. Lockdowns…restrictions…pandemic & these selfish people, most of whom are vaccinated are selfish enough to want to go Out!!!! To go on a holiday!!!! Somebody call the riot police quickly!!!! Give me a break!

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Anna Carr
    Favourite Anna Carr
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 8:26 AM

    @Hear me now: I’m talking about the people who haven’t adhered to the rules. I haven’t been out in restaurants or on holiday or even in anyone else’s house but I’m still in danger because of the actions of others. And stop bleating like a child and grow up.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:41 PM

    So permanent emergency powers then? Can people see what this means? Will we get more silence from TDs, the President & Drew Harris (seeing as he was so concerned yesterday) or will they finally speak up & ask what’s really going on here? Is this really still about a virus? How many times were we told “no longer than necessary”? Donnelly only 2 weeks ago stood in the Dáil & lied, yet again, saying they wouldn’t be extended past Feb. Will the media finally start asking questions? Like looking for the hard, indisputable evidence that any of these measures actually work? This is fascism staring you right in the face.

    455
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute TomTraubert
    Favourite TomTraubert
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:46 PM

    @Dave: apart from the stated fact that there will be a sunset clause. But carry on, be paranoid if you’ve nothing else to be doing.

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Kearon
    Favourite Stephen Kearon
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 10:09 PM

    @Dave: did you miss the fact there will be a sunset clause, or decided to ignore it so that you could rant regardless of reality?

    31
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 10:15 PM

    @Sean D: Tell me Sean. Or is it Don “no room for hate” Bishop? What does someone from North Carolina have to do with this? Not a lot, which explains your pathetically childish response. Love the hat by the way. Send Dee my regards & Happy Birthday if I’m not talking to you before Thursday.

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 10:17 PM

    @TomTraubert: & Stephen… are you lads for real? What about the fact there was a sunset clause in the emergency powers that it’s replacing? You’d swear the “conspiracy theorists” never warned this would happen all along. Wake up.

    119
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrumpyAulFella
    Favourite GrumpyAulFella
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:25 PM

    @Dave: sounds like you’re a conspiracy theorist. Did you not read the article?

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:32 PM

    @GrumpyAulFella: I did yeah. Tell me what I’ve got wrong instead of asking silly questions.

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hear me now
    Favourite Hear me now
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 8:04 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: sounds like you’re a government stooge, did you not read the article.

    24
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrumpyAulFella
    Favourite GrumpyAulFella
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 9:36 AM

    @Dave: I’ll give you a hint “act”, “will include”, “sunset clause”. “There will be an end date to these powers in this legislation”

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrumpyAulFella
    Favourite GrumpyAulFella
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 9:37 AM

    @Hear me now: take the medicine and protect us all.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute PW
    Favourite PW
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:11 PM

    Nothing to do with a virus

    262
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lisa McCann Gahan
    Favourite Lisa McCann Gahan
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:27 PM

    Welcome to Ireland the land of a thousand welcomes…..except for their own people who have worked front line for the last two years. Have people forgotten how to make a critical analysis of what is happening. Our freedoms and trust in each other have been decimated. We need to think not only for ourselves but our children and grandchildren futures. Remember concentration camps? How did human beings get there, how did human beings get lead into gas chambers

    216
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Laura Ni Nuanain
    Favourite Laura Ni Nuanain
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:38 PM

    @Lisa McCann Gahan: what can we do? I feel helpless, is marching enough?

    73
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paul Whitehead
    Favourite Paul Whitehead
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 3:11 AM

    @Lisa McCann Gahan: unless a person is 80 plus, highly unlikely they can remember concentration camps. And using that analogy where millions of Jews were murdered is pure anti-Semitism at its most ignorant worst. You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jeff Nolan
    Favourite Jeff Nolan
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:05 PM

    The new legislation will allow for two date extensions….well there ya go. Summer 2022.

    183
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave
    Favourite Dave
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:49 PM

    @Jeff Nolan: No chance Jeff. They haven’t given the original end date yet. Then that end date can be extended for whatever period of time they wish. Twice. Then what happens? Another amendment or new law to extend again? This will go on & on until the people in this country grow a pair & stand up to it.

    255
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kevin Hill
    Favourite Kevin Hill
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:53 PM

    @Jeff Nolan: a cynical person would argue it allows indefinite extensions as drafting new legislation is one thing this lot have proved themselves good at.

    139
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrumpyAulFella
    Favourite GrumpyAulFella
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:27 PM

    @Kevin Hill: let’s face it, it has been badly needed. Are there any countries in the world who haven’t been doing it over the past 20 months?

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute john doe
    Favourite john doe
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 10:49 PM

    We are all just a little bit further from being truly free than we were before. The slippery slope continues.

    120
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lisa McCann Gahan
    Favourite Lisa McCann Gahan
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:22 PM

    Stephen Kearon please dont be complicit with the passing of this legislation. This is not going to end in February 2022. Mr Martin was able to have two Covid tests within 24hours of each other with different results. Is it one rule for them and another for us. Just so he could travel. The government and Nephet have continued to change the gold posts. They have had two years to get things right in our hospitals and they have done nothing but spent millions on advertising on various media platforms Covid rules and yellow posters

    106
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Geraldine Kelly
    Favourite Geraldine Kelly
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 8:20 AM

    There’s an inconvenient thing called the Constitution, are they abandoning it?

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tommy Berry
    Favourite Tommy Berry
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:41 PM

    No doubt the social media legal experts will challenge this.

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hear me now
    Favourite Hear me now
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:53 PM

    @Tommy Berry: & rightly so….or should everyone just nod politely while this incompetent government grant themselves even more power to continue this water downed existence that we’re living…How bout a date when the covid passes will be lifted…Double vaccinated in case your wondering but also give a s hit about people who have decided not to take a voluntary vaccine & who wear their face makes& socially distance etc etc etc

    256
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean D
    Favourite Sean D
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:30 PM

    @Hear me now: maybe when the anti vax cohort get jabbed and stop filling ICU beds perhaps?

    40
    See 6 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hear me now
    Favourite Hear me now
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:47 PM

    @Sean D: do you think people who have not taken the vaccine are running out there without masks grabbing onto & coughing into people’s faces? And can you grow up a bit, “anti vax cohort” who do you think you are like?! It is a voluntary vaccine…can’t you get that through your head!

    151
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hear me now
    Favourite Hear me now
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 9:51 PM

    @Sean D: didn’t mean to go off on you there…just sick of all this back & forth sniping in the comments section which I am guilty of myself…the old adage of divide & conquer rings true here…this is a total over reach by the government nothing less.

    94
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute GrumpyAulFella
    Favourite GrumpyAulFella
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 11:30 PM

    @Hear me now: if the anti-vax cohort don’t man up soon and step up to the plate then this voluntary vaccine could soon become mandatory.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris Gaffney
    Favourite Chris Gaffney
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 3:18 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: Sooner the better. Most of us are sick of the never-ending childish debate!

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Interloper (what/why)
    Favourite The Interloper (what/why)
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 9:23 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: that would be against international law

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Emmett Whelan
    Favourite Emmett Whelan
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 10:30 AM

    @GrumpyAulFella: step up to the plate wat are u talking about , freedom of choice is a good thing to have not like other countries, do u want our kids to grow up like robots and have a government that dictates there life for them

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute The Kerry Slug
    Favourite The Kerry Slug
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:35 PM

    Uv corse day ar. Day ar takin ar freedumbs in frunt of ar eyes. Collins wud be ternin in hiz grave like a rotissery chicken. Stand up b4 it’s 2 late. Pleeze hun xxx 1 like = 1 patriot

    67
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Kearon
    Favourite Stephen Kearon
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 10:10 PM

    Sensible approach to have a single piece of legislation covering all that is required to keep normal society safe during a pandemic.

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nathan Notusingfackebook
    Favourite Nathan Notusingfackebook
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 12:58 PM

    At the country-level, there appears to be no discernable relationship between percentage of population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases in the last 7 days . In fact, the trend line suggests a marginally positive association such that countries with higher percentage of population fully vaccinated have higher COVID-19 cases per 1 million people. Notably, Israel with over 60% of their population fully vaccinated had the highest COVID-19 cases per 1 million people in the last 7 days. The lack of a meaningful association between percentage population fully vaccinated and new COVID-19 cases is further exemplified, for instance, by comparison of Iceland and Portugal. Both countries have over 75% of their population fully vaccinated and have more COVID-19 cases per 1 million people than countries such as Vietnam and South Africa that have around 10% of their population fully vaccinated.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Chris Gaffney
    Favourite Chris Gaffney
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:10 PM

    That will kill off the spurious legal challenges!!

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Nicholas Power
    Favourite Nicholas Power
    Report
    Nov 10th 2021, 12:22 PM

    As many people feared the gross misuse of political power continues Irelands degeneration and undermining of our Democratic state. A bleak future indeed, especially for our next generation.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Duff
    Favourite Tom Duff
    Report
    Nov 9th 2021, 8:52 PM

    About time

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ann Huyes
    Favourite Ann Huyes
    Report
    Nov 12th 2021, 4:50 PM

    Hi, this is the reason the restrictive draconian laws will continue to be extended.

    It’s certainly not about prioritising our “health and safety”.

    It’s a totalitarian tip toe, towards a very *specific* I.D. / surveillance / control system.

    One which requires each and every one of us to be fully subscribed to the Health Pass system, an upgraded I.D. system (when the basic versions were rejected by modern democracies).

    To explain further there’s some background needed:

    The “Health Passports” use a *QR code* system and scanners – a pivotal fact.

    The Gates GAVI /CEPI / WHO Vaccine alliance 2.0 Covid vaccine collectively supported the creation of a subdermal vaccine microneedle patch.

    The 2.0 Covid vaccine the Gates Foundation has been referring referring to recently.

    It’s intended functionally occurs after its embedded in the skin of the wrist for a short period.

    Originally this strategy was allegedly to help the “great unbanked” formerly known as people living in poverty.

    (“Chips” are extremely dated tech by now).

    This new so called SMART vaccine, is to be optimised to retain data of vaccine Mrs I.D. tied to biometrics plus digital banking (via for example MasterCards TRUST-STAMP & blockchain).

    It was originally called the “Quantum Dot Tattoo vaccine” (a bond like name

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ann Huyes
    Favourite Ann Huyes
    Report
    Nov 12th 2021, 5:09 PM

    @Ann Huyes:

    Cont…..

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ann Huyes
    Favourite Ann Huyes
    Report
    Nov 12th 2021, 5:14 PM

    Just like the Passports, this brand new form of vaccine *also* uses a **QR code** system pattern.

    That’s via a luciferase bio-enzyme pattern and nanotech.

    (It *shines* so I guess that’s the aetiology for the not-creep-pple-our-at all moniker the fruit fly enzyme was given).

    The bio enzyme pattern is not actually visible to the naked eye, but shines out upun QR code scanner use.

    So what does that actually mean in the real world ?

    Just like the passport, – our *wrists* will be able to be scanned and read from “a distance and any angle”,

    (That’s the marketing brag of a Irish+ International health passport co. regarding their QR product passport and scanners ).

    Access for services and permissions for entry could as now, be granted or denied based on your acceptance of a product or cattle like *permanent* stamp /brand.

    Dystopian much ?

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds