LOS ANGELES (AP) — The doctor who founded the Southern California facility where actress Angelina Jolie had both breasts removed is applauding Jolie for making some "bold choices."
Jolie wrote in today's New York Times that she decided to have the double mastectomy as a preventive measure, after discovering that she has a gene that gives her an 87 percent chance of getting breast cancer. She writes that her mother fought cancer for nearly a decade before dying at 56, and that she didn't want her own children to fear that they would lose her to breast cancer.
Dr. Kristi Funk, founder of the Pink Lotus Breast Center where Jolie was treated, says she hopes that Jolie "will save countless lives" through the awareness she is raising around the world.
Many women have chosen preventive mastectomy since genetic screening for breast cancer was developed. But the public announcement is unprecedented from a star so young and widely known.
