Angelina Jolie lost 8 family members to cancer before surgery

Angelina Jolie announced Tuesday that she has had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed over fears of cancer, following her double mastectomy two years ago.

The Hollywood superstar carries a gene mutation that had given her an 87 percent risk of developing breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of developing ovarian cancer.

Angelina Jolie made the courageous decision to have her ovaries removed after a recent cancer scare but this was not her first warning sign.

The actress witnessed eight members of her family fall victim to the killer disease.

Angelina, 39 lost her mother, grandmother and aunt to cancer.

Her cousin Francine, great aunt Stella and aunt Debbie died from breast cancer, and Grandad Rolland and uncle Raleigh also succumbed to different cancers.

Angelina's grandmother Lois died of ovarian cancer and her great-grandmother, Virginia, was killed by the same disease.

Writing in the New York Times, the Hollywood actress and UN envoy said her decision, made because she carries a mutation in the BRAC1 gene that gave her a 50 per cent risk of developing ovarian cancer, was not an easy one.

"It is a less complex surgery than the mastectomy, but its effects are more severe. It puts a woman into forced menopause," Jolie wrote. "So I was readying myself physically and emotionally, discussing options with doctors, researching alternative medicine, and mapping my hormones for estrogen or progesterone replacement. But I felt I still had months to make the date."

When she learned 3 weeks ago that tests revealed higher inflammation levels, Jolie and her doctors decided it was time.

Her husband, actor Brad Pitt, who was in France at the time, flew to be with her during the procedure, a laparoscopic bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy.

Jolie wrote that doctors found a small benign tumor on one ovary, but no signs of cancer in any of the tissues.

As a result of the surgery, she is now in menopause.

After her double mastectomy, Jolie revealed to People magazine that she was planning to have her ovaries removed.

She also told Entertainment Weekly that she was preparing to have another surgery to prevent cancer.

In her latest op-ed, Jolie emphasized that her decisions are specific to her, and that a family history of the disease played a role in her decision. She lost her mother, grandmother and aunt to cancer.

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