Angelina Jolie and her Breasts: Opinion Piece Part 2
Here are two similar but different scenarios about breast cancer.
Scenario One: Imagine that you're a well respected woman, with a great career, a wonderful family, and a lot of money to give back to those who need it more than you do (aka philanthropy). Now imagine that you go in for your annual mammogram and the results come back and say that you have a lump in your breast. Now it's time for a biopsy to see if it's benign or malignant (cancerous). You wait for however long biopsies take and get that phone call. Your heart plummets. You have cancer. But it was caught early and you are able to take preventative measures. So you opt for a double mastectomy instead of chemotherapy or radiation. You have the procedure and it goes smoothly. It clears up the cancer as said by the next test you have.
Scenario Two: Here's where things are a little different. You're just like the women above, but instead of being diagnosed with breast cancer, you get genetic testing results that say that you have a high chance of getting breast cancer. And as a preventative measure, you get a double mastectomy as well.
In these two different scenarios, the women that make these decisions are very brave and deserve recognition. But they don't. So far the only woman that has gotten recognition for doing scenario two is Angelina Jolie. It's unfair and the news story went on far too long. First it was announced that she got a double mastectomy. Fine, she did it to be healthy. Should've lasted for maybe a week. But no. Because then it went on to interviews with her doctors and other medical people that were in charge of her care. The story broke in May of '13 and continued into early September as a touch and go. I found it highly ridiculous. Four months of reporting on ONE woman, an actress no less, and regular everyday woman get nothing? It's times like these when I sometimes lose faith in humanity and the people that live on this planet.
Regular everyday victims, and survivors, of any type of cancer deserve our care, passion, and attention; not just one actress woman. It's a shame to see four months go by and all that gets talked about is Angelina Jolie and her breasts. (Using extreme emphasis to try and make a point).
Scenario One: Imagine that you're a well respected woman, with a great career, a wonderful family, and a lot of money to give back to those who need it more than you do (aka philanthropy). Now imagine that you go in for your annual mammogram and the results come back and say that you have a lump in your breast. Now it's time for a biopsy to see if it's benign or malignant (cancerous). You wait for however long biopsies take and get that phone call. Your heart plummets. You have cancer. But it was caught early and you are able to take preventative measures. So you opt for a double mastectomy instead of chemotherapy or radiation. You have the procedure and it goes smoothly. It clears up the cancer as said by the next test you have.
Scenario Two: Here's where things are a little different. You're just like the women above, but instead of being diagnosed with breast cancer, you get genetic testing results that say that you have a high chance of getting breast cancer. And as a preventative measure, you get a double mastectomy as well.
In these two different scenarios, the women that make these decisions are very brave and deserve recognition. But they don't. So far the only woman that has gotten recognition for doing scenario two is Angelina Jolie. It's unfair and the news story went on far too long. First it was announced that she got a double mastectomy. Fine, she did it to be healthy. Should've lasted for maybe a week. But no. Because then it went on to interviews with her doctors and other medical people that were in charge of her care. The story broke in May of '13 and continued into early September as a touch and go. I found it highly ridiculous. Four months of reporting on ONE woman, an actress no less, and regular everyday woman get nothing? It's times like these when I sometimes lose faith in humanity and the people that live on this planet.
Regular everyday victims, and survivors, of any type of cancer deserve our care, passion, and attention; not just one actress woman. It's a shame to see four months go by and all that gets talked about is Angelina Jolie and her breasts. (Using extreme emphasis to try and make a point).
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