Hollywood starlet Angelina Jolie publicly announced her plans to undergo a double mastectomy to the New York Times last month, a decision that shines a spotlight on genetic testing and a side of breast cancer that is often shadowed by well-intentioned walk-a-thons and yogurt lids – the pre-diagnosis.
What’s important to focus on is that Angelina didn’t have breast cancer; she had the genetic makeup that made breast cancer more likely (the BRCA1 gene).
Jolie’s procedure and more like it could lessen the prevalence of breast cancer if more women took genetic tests earlier and underwent reconstructive surgery to prevent the possibility. Although these tests are currently out of reach financially for the everyday woman, with more time and investors, we could unlock the key to curing a disease affects over 250,000 Americans each year.
