Newsy: Angelina’s Breasts

Angelina's breasts are in the news or rather her removal of her breasts is the real story. And you know what? It’s everybody’s business.

My breasts have never inspired such attention for any reason, good or bad. I’m glad. The most hubbub ever made about my breasts was made by me at the brafitter’s across the street. They don’t carry “such small sizes”. Well that hardly seems in keeping with the whole brafitting philosophy, but whatever. I’m not complaining, definitely not, especially when I have witnessed my sister, whose bra size falls at the other end of the alphabet, struggle all her life with breasts.

Our maternal grandmother had a double-mastectomy after being diagnosed with cancer. She survived. I have observed a close relative’s mother whose own mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all passed away in their 50’s from breast cancer, die at a young age also of cancer. I have seen that daughter get tested over and over again, her first fear that she’d pass on the “cancer gene” to her children. Her fear was real as her brother also suffered from cancer at a young age. Now I observe her fear that despite not being a cancer gene carrier, she will die young of cancer and leave her children motherless. In her early 30’s she is tested every 6 months, by doctor’s recommendation.

I will not judge someone whose threat of cancer is so real it is almost tangible for doing anything they can to escape that disease. I also won’t judge someone for doing what they need to escape the fear and protect their own sanity.

And if I wanted to collect opinions about the topic, I would ask some cancer survivors, families of cancer patients, doctors, women who also had mastectomies in the name of prevention. Whose the last person I’d want to hear from? A priest and Terlikowski. Ja pierdole.