14 DAY TRIAL // Two years after going public with her decision to have a double mastectomy after genetic tests showed she was running a very high risk of cancer, actress and director Angelina Jolie has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed after another cancer scare.
The revelation comes in a new op-ed for the New York Times, in which the star urges women to get screened and to consider all their options before assuming surgery is the only one. Making an educated decision is what’s important - so she’s sharing her story to help them with that.
Angelina Jolie speaks out, reveals she’s preparing for menopause
The surgery took place a couple of weeks ago, when, after another round of yearly tests, one marker indicated that she may have had developed a cancer, which was in the early stages. Angelina has had 3 female relatives die of cancer, including her own mother, so she has a medical history that puts her at high risk.
Earlier tests also revealed a mutation in the BRCA1 gene, which meant she was at risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. When she had the double mastectomy, she started to prepare herself mentally for stage 2: having her ovaries removed as a preventive measure.
The moment came when she got the new test results. “The day of the results came. The PET/CT scan looked clear, and the tumor test was negative. I was full of happiness, although the radioactive tracer meant I couldn’t hug my children. There was still a chance of early stage cancer, but that was minor compared with a full-blown tumor. To my relief, I still had the option of removing my ovaries and fallopian tubes and I chose to do it,” she writes.
She still has her uterus, because she has no family history with cancer there, and she’s still at some risk of developing cancer, but she is ok with the decision she made because she did whatever she could to make sure her children would not grow up without a mother.
Early menopause
Right now, the star explains, she is undergoing hormone replacement treatment, but even so, she expects to enter menopause soon. Her body will start to show physical changes, she writes, but she’s determined to remain strong for herself and for her family.
She is also looking into alternative medicine for ways to boost her immune system.
She will not be able to have children anymore, but she still feels “feminine” and confident. Throughout the op-ed, Jolie insists that surgery isn’t the only option for women in her situation, urging those who have not had children yet to talk with specialists about the best way to go about the problem.
If surgery was the best option for her, it doesn’t mean it would have to be for them too, especially if they still want to conceive naturally, which the surgery would render impossible.