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May 14th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
She wrote: “Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive
and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a
preventive double mastectomy.
“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, whose movies include Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Mr and Mrs Smith and The
Changeling, said waking up after the major operation to remove the breast
tissue felt like a “scene out of a science-fiction film”.
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie (Rex/Reuters)
However, she said the final results of surgery to reconstruct breasts with
implants could be “beautiful”. She completed her medical procedures on April
27.
She said: “I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to
have a mastectomy was not easy.
“But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast
cancer have dropped from 87 per cent to under 5 per cent.
“I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to
breast cancer. It is reassuring that they see nothing that makes them
uncomfortable.
In her role as a UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie recently met Syrian
refugees in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon (EPA)
“They can see my small scars and that’s it. Everything else is just Mommy, the
same as she always was. And they know that I love them and will do anything
to be with them as long as I can.
“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 urged other women, in particular those with a family history of breast
or ovarian cancer, to seek medical advice so they could make their own
informed choice about what steps to take.
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