The double mastectomy undergone by the actress Angelina Jolie garnered much attention from the media throughout the past few weeks. Many have chimed in from different angles, including this brief commentary from our brother Jesuit blog in the United States. Much can be said about her decision, but I would like to focus on a few points.
Jolie decided to undergo this medical procedure after discovering that she is the carrier of a mutated copy of a gene called BRCA1. Women who carry a BRCA1 (and also BRCA2) mutation have a much greater chance of getting breast cancer. That being said, it doesn’t mean that all breast cancers are caused by BRCA mutations, nor does it mean that everyone is equally susceptible to such a genetic mutation.
