I’m in tears after reading Angelina Jolie Pitt’s op-ed in the New York Times , entitled “Angelina Jolie Pitt: Diary of a Surgery.” Two years after writing about her decision to have a preventive double mastectomy after discovering that she carries the BRCA mutation, Ms. Pitt has come forward with the news that she has undergone another preventive surgery, this one to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes, in a further effort to lower the risk of cancer that claimed the lives of her mother, aunt, and grandmother.
There are thousands of women like Angelina Pitt with the BRCA mutation, and they face these hard, hard choices every day. As a woman, I cannot even imagine how difficult a decision it must be to make. Ms. Pitt talks about her hope to be alive for her children as they grow older, and it is for the children of women like Angelina Pitt that I first decided to write Positively Beautiful. As I read Ms. Pitt's article, I couldn’t help but wonder what she will tell her children as they grow older. At what point does a parent tell her children they may carry the BRCA gene? How do you have that conversation? How will they take it? How do you explain to girls just blossoming into womanhood that the best way to keep them safe is to remove their breasts and ovaries?
Ms. Pitt’s three biological children will have a 50% chance of carrying the mutated gene. For her daughters, this could mean a vastly increased risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer, as well as some other types of cancer. The BRCA gene doesn’t just affect girls, however, and if her biological son carries the mutated gene, he will also face an increased risk of breast and prostate cancer, as well as a few other specific types of cancer. My heart breaks for her children, and for the children like them, who have inherited not only a mutation, but a lifetime of hard decisions. “Knowledge is power,” Ms. Pitt says in her article, and I believe that this is true, but with knowledge does not always come peace of mind.
When I first began researching Positively Beautiful, I was surprised to find that the medical community was very uncomfortable with the subject matter of the book. A teenage girl who finds out she might have the BRCA gene? I was told that she should not be even thinking about the breast cancer gene until she was at least eighteen, preferably twenty-one or twenty-five. How, I asked these well-meaning people, can you tell someone not to think about something? I’m sure this advice works for some, perhaps most, and they are able to go about their normal lives until it is time to tackle the issue of their possible BRCA mutation at an appropriate age. But what about those girls who can’t stop thinking about it?
Genetic testing is here to stay, and with it the fallout for our children. Genetic testing does not occur in a vacuum; it does not just affect the person being tested, but has far-reaching ramifications for their relatives as well. With courageous women like Angelina Pitt openly talking about the BRCA mutation and her decision to undergo prophylactic surgery, more and more people are becoming aware of the role genes play in our health. As genetic testing becomes more common, it is inevitable that there will be serious implications for family members, including children, who will learn about their genetic propensities whether or not they wish to.
I have no doubt that Anglina Pitt’s children will have strong, compassionate parents to support them in their hard decisions as they grow older and learn what the BRCA mutation means to them. I only hope that the children of other parents with genetic mutations have the same support.
There are thousands of women like Angelina Pitt with the BRCA mutation, and they face these hard, hard choices every day. As a woman, I cannot even imagine how difficult a decision it must be to make. Ms. Pitt talks about her hope to be alive for her children as they grow older, and it is for the children of women like Angelina Pitt that I first decided to write Positively Beautiful. As I read Ms. Pitt's article, I couldn’t help but wonder what she will tell her children as they grow older. At what point does a parent tell her children they may carry the BRCA gene? How do you have that conversation? How will they take it? How do you explain to girls just blossoming into womanhood that the best way to keep them safe is to remove their breasts and ovaries?
Ms. Pitt’s three biological children will have a 50% chance of carrying the mutated gene. For her daughters, this could mean a vastly increased risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer, as well as some other types of cancer. The BRCA gene doesn’t just affect girls, however, and if her biological son carries the mutated gene, he will also face an increased risk of breast and prostate cancer, as well as a few other specific types of cancer. My heart breaks for her children, and for the children like them, who have inherited not only a mutation, but a lifetime of hard decisions. “Knowledge is power,” Ms. Pitt says in her article, and I believe that this is true, but with knowledge does not always come peace of mind.
When I first began researching Positively Beautiful, I was surprised to find that the medical community was very uncomfortable with the subject matter of the book. A teenage girl who finds out she might have the BRCA gene? I was told that she should not be even thinking about the breast cancer gene until she was at least eighteen, preferably twenty-one or twenty-five. How, I asked these well-meaning people, can you tell someone not to think about something? I’m sure this advice works for some, perhaps most, and they are able to go about their normal lives until it is time to tackle the issue of their possible BRCA mutation at an appropriate age. But what about those girls who can’t stop thinking about it?
Genetic testing is here to stay, and with it the fallout for our children. Genetic testing does not occur in a vacuum; it does not just affect the person being tested, but has far-reaching ramifications for their relatives as well. With courageous women like Angelina Pitt openly talking about the BRCA mutation and her decision to undergo prophylactic surgery, more and more people are becoming aware of the role genes play in our health. As genetic testing becomes more common, it is inevitable that there will be serious implications for family members, including children, who will learn about their genetic propensities whether or not they wish to.
I have no doubt that Anglina Pitt’s children will have strong, compassionate parents to support them in their hard decisions as they grow older and learn what the BRCA mutation means to them. I only hope that the children of other parents with genetic mutations have the same support.