Angelina Jolie has had her ovaries removed. How brave of her to undergo surgery like that so that she can be around to meet her grandchildren in the future.
Two years ago, the actress underwent a double mastectomy and after a doctor detected a possible early sign of cancer, she decided to have her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed.
She wrote all about her experience in a New York Times op-ed (via People).
“I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt,” Jolie, 39, writes. “I told myself to stay calm, to be strong, and that I had no reason to think I wouldn’t live to see my children grow up and to meet my grandchildren.”
Jolie called her husband, Brad Pitt, who was on a plane within hours. “The beautiful thing about such moments in life is that there is so much clarity. You know what you live for and what matters. It is polarizing, and it is peaceful,” the mother of six writes.
That same day Jolie went to see the surgeon who had treated her mother Marcheline, who died in 2007 of ovarian cancer.
“She teared up when she saw me: ‘You look just like her,’ ” Jolie writes. “I broke down.”
She waited another five days for test results that would reveal whether there was cancer somewhere in her body. “I passed those five days in a haze, attending my children’s soccer game, and working to stay calm and focused.”
Finally the results came and she learned that the tumor test was negative. “I was full of happiness, although the radioactive tracer meant I couldn’t hug my children,” she writes. “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.” It was no small decision on her part because removing her ovaries would push her into forced menopause.
Kudos to her for facing a scary problem head-on.
Photo Credit: Fame/Flynet
