– ‘Knowledge is power’ –
“I went through what I imagine thousands of other women have felt. 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 and to meet my grandchildren,” Jolie wrote.
“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 polarizing, and it is peaceful.”
She went to see a surgeon, the same one who had treated her mother and whom she last saw on the day that her mother died.
The examination and ultrasound were regular, so she waited for five days, saying she tried to stay calm and focused as she attended her children’s soccer game and went about her daily life. Then scan results came back clean.
“To my relief, I still had the option of removing my ovaries and fallopian tubes and I chose to do it,” she said.
The surgery has put the mother of six into 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 because this is a part of life. It is nothing to be feared.
“It is not easy to make these decisions. But it is possible to take control and tackle head-on any health issue. You can seek advice, learn about the options and make choices that are right for you. Knowledge is power.”
Ovarian cancer often runs in families and is one of the deadliest forms of cancer because there are often no symptoms in the early stages.
Hollywood star and Bond actor Pierce Brosnan lost his first wife Cassandra Harris in 1991 and his daughter Charlotte in 2013 to the disease. Harris’s mother also died of ovarian cancer.
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