Angelina Jolie has revealed she has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed as a cancer preventative procedure, following her double mastectomy two years ago.
“I wanted other women at risk to know about the options,” she wrote in an op-ed in the New York Times. "I promised to follow up with any information that could be useful.
“I feel deeply for women for whom this moment comes very early in life, before they have had their children. Their situation is far harder than mine. I inquired and found out that there are options for women to remove their fallopian tubes but keep their ovaries, and so retain the ability to bear children and not go into menopause. I hope they can be aware of that.
“My doctors indicated I should have preventive surgery about a decade before the earliest onset of cancer in my female relatives. My mother’s ovarian cancer was diagnosed when she was 49. I’m 39.
“It is not easy to make these decisions. But it is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue. You can seek advice, learn about the options and make choices that are right for you. Knowledge is power.”
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Source: NYTimes.com
