As I'm sure you have all heard Angelina Jolie announced through an essay in the New York Times that she had a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery over the last few months. This was something that no one knew about even though she went through months of different surgeries and preparation. This is something that she could have easily kept to herself which is not an easy feat when you are such a huge celebrity. However, Angelina chose to share the news to empower other women. It has also been reported that Angelina is not finished yet with lowering her chance for cancer. She has also opted to remove her ovaries to lower her risk of ovarian cancer, the cancer that killed her mother.
Being diagnosed in your 30s with breast cancer is rare, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. It can still happen at this age and we should all be aware of any changes. You can read this post:
How To Do a Self Breast Exam.
Even though these women below are so young, they have proven that with their bravery and speaking about it in public, that life does go on. They have chosen their future to be long by taking the a hard decision and putting into their own hands and I think they are even more beautiful.
After losing her mom to ovarian cancer and then learning that she has the BRCA1 gene mutation, Angelina opted to have a preventive double mastectomy this year followed by reconstructive surgery at age 37. She went public about the procedure in a moving essay in the May 13, 2013 edition of the New York Times Angelina wrote in her essay that she felt "empowered" by her decision. "Life comes with many challenges,
the ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of."
Giuliana Rancic has been very open when it came to her breast cancer battle. She was open in the media and on her reality show, "Giuliana and Bill." Luckily when Giuliana was getting ready for another round of IVF, her doctor advised her to have a mammogram even though there was no history in her family. That test came back positive for breast cancer and she decided that her best option was to have a double mastectomy and reconstruction in 2011 at age 37. Going through the ordeal publicly was painful, she wrote after Jolie's announcement, but it was worth it. "In helping other women, you end up helping yourself," she said. "You end up being able to validate one of the most painful times in your life by realizing that maybe all the pain and the fear and the tears were worth it."
Upon being diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2008 at age 36, Christina opted to have a lumpectomy. She later learned, however, that she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene mutation. Once she found out that information, she went forward with a bilateral mastectomy, followed by reconstructive surgery a few months later. "It can be very painful," she told Oprah Winfrey in 2008. "It's also a part of you that's gone, so you go through a grieving process."
These women have all experienced pain and empowerment by taking control of their own destiny. Cancer can be one of the scariest things to deal with, and all these women in their 30s have proven to other women that life isn't over, even though they are so young and in their 30s dealing with this.
I featured a woman named Meg whose mother died from cancer before her 21st birthday. Meg is turning 30-years-old next month, and for her 30th birthday, she wanted to give a donation to the American Cancer society. Her goal is to raise $3650 before her birthday on June 23rd. As of today, she has raised $2528.00. Losing your mother from cancer at such a young age can be devastating but Meg wants to do something good. You can check out her
American Cancer Society Donation page here.
Meg wrote a post about her mother and dealing with loss, and you can read that post here:
Donating My 30th Birthday For My Mother
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