USA: A doctor for the Pink Lotus Breast Center - the center where Angelina Jolie had her double mastectomy - said she applauds the actress' "bold choices"

Record ID: 862187

  • Title: USA: A doctor for the Pink Lotus Breast Center - the center where Angelina Jolie had her double mastectomy - said she applauds the actress' "bold choices"
  • Date: 14th May 2013
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (FILE) (UNRESTRICTED POOL) VARIOUS OF ANGELINA JOLIE ON OSCAR RED CARPET
  • Embargoed: 29th May 2013 13:00
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  • Location: Usa
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA980UFJVNKNHLOXJZ5HXHGK3VH
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  • Story Text: Following Oscar-winning film star Angelina Jolie's revelation that she underwent a double mastectomy, a doctor where Jolie was treated applauded the actress' choice.
    "We hope that the awareness she is raising around the world will save countless lives," said Dr. Kristi Funk at a brief news conference outside the Pink Lotus Breast Center in Beverly Hills. Funk is the founder and director of the center but it is not known if she performed Jolie's mastectomy.
    Jolie opted for the procedure after learning she had inherited a high risk of breast cancer and said she hoped her story would inspire other women fighting the life-threatening disease.
    Jolie disclosed her choice in an op-ed column in the New York Times.
    The 37-year-old performer, raising a family with fellow film star and fiance Brad Pitt, wrote that she went through with the operation in part to reassure her six children that she would not die young from cancer, as her own mother did at age 56.
    "We often speak of 'Mommy's mommy,' and I find myself trying to explain the illness that took her away from us. They have asked if the same could happen to me," wrote Jolie.
    "I have always told them not to worry, but the truth is I carry a 'faulty' gene."
    The actress, who won an Oscar as best supporting actress for her 1999 role in the film "Girl, Interrupted," said she opted for the surgery after her doctors had estimated she had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, due to an inherited genetic mutation.
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