ACTRESS ANGELINA JOLIE has said that she has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed in a preventative bid to avoid getting cancer.
In a column in today’s New York Times, Jolie said that the surgery was carried out last week after a cancer scare.
It comes almost two years after she had a preventative double mastectomy after finding out she had a gene mutation which gave her an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer.
Jolie lost her mother, grandmother and aunt to cancer.
In the column, Jolie writes that she is undergoing forced menopause as a result of the surgery.
She says she made the decision after her doctor told her that she had a number of signs of what could be early cancer.
“I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt,” she wrote. “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 to meet my grandchildren.
“I called my husband in France, 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 polarising, and it is peaceful”.
Tests showed that she did not have cancer – but she writes: “To my relief, I still had the option of removing my ovaries and fallopian tubes and I chose to do it”.
Jolie said that the option was the best one for her personally because of mutated gene coupled with the fact that three women in her family had died from cancer.
The surgery was carried out last week.
Jolie wrote that it was not an easy decision, but urged women to “take control and tackle head-on any health issue”.
“Regardless of the hormone replacements I’m taking, I am now in menopause. I will not be able to have any more children, and I expect some physical changes.
“But I feel at ease with whatever will come, not because I am strong but beacuse this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared”.
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