absolutely. as women, more women and more doctors are being educated about learning about their family history and then getting tested, more women are making that decision and saying, you know what? i don t want to have this ticking time bomb going off over my head. and it is a ticking time bomb. it s got a it has real impact. it s a very personal decision. 87% lifetime risk. doesn t mean that every woman is going to get breast cancer but it s a huge risk. and so they come into my office and they say, doc, i don t want i want them off. now, it doesn t mean that every woman who has the gene has to make this choice. but it s an option. now, i want to show you this number. if you re in the general population, you basically have a 12% chance of getting breast cancer in your lifetime if you have the breast cancer gene. your chances skyrocket to 65% if you have that gene. that s huge.
a shocking story today about one of the world s most famous people. she s angelina jolie. the academy award winning actress, the international movie star, film director, screen writer, activist. but the biggest headline of jolie s career may have come today. in the form of an op-ed she penned for the new york times this morning. the title simply says, my medical choice. after being diagnosed as a carrier of the so called breast cancer gene, she writes, quote, my doctors estimated that i had an 87% risk of breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer. once i knew knew that this was my reality, i decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much as i could. i made a decision to have a preventative double mastectomy. this is normally a very private
decision for women to make. but jolie decided to go public to raise awareness and hopes. and she hopes it will educate women about their own options. it s a brave and courageous choice. angelina, you should be commended for this award winning performance. joining me now is dr. kathy ann joseph, a breast surgeon at nyu medical center here in new york. and lindsay abner, founder of brightpink.org. she was diagnosed with the breast cancer gene and had a preventative double mastectomy at age 23. thank you both for being here tonight on this important topic. thank you. thank you for having me. lindsay, as one who has been through this, what was your reaction to the news this morning? well, when i woke up this morning i was absolutely shocked. usually angelina jolie is so reserved as a celebrity. and for her to make the decision
cost of testing for the breast cancer gene in her op-ed. she writes, it has got to be a priority to ensure that more women can access gene testing and life saving preventative treatment. whatever their means and background, wherever they live, the cost of testing for brca 1 and brca 2 at more than $3,000 in the united states remain an obstacle for many women. why is the test so costly? and does insurance cover it? most insurance companies do. not all don t. i m glad she wrote that. because the problem is that there is only one company in the united states that does the test. they have the mo nopoly on it. one company? one company. isn t that kind of unfair? i mean, if only one company has it, suppose this company owns the patent. it is a gene, but they have the
welcome back, everybody. sharon osbourne has never been shy about sharing the struggles of her life. this time it is no different. she has gone through a 13 hour double mastectomy for preventative reasons. and now linsey davis reports she is telling the world about the procedure. reporter: she was there for her son when he announced his battle with m.s. he s great. he s doing really, really good. and i want to thank everyone for all of their good will. love this. reporter: but now it s sharon osborne s turn to lean on her family, revealing to hello magazine that after discovering that she had the gene for breast canc cancer, she made a life-changing decision. quote, as soon as i found out i had the breast cancer gene, i thought the odds are not in my favor. i have had cancer before and i didn t want to live under that cloud. i decided to just take everything off and had a double mastectomy. ten years ago, osbourne beat colon cancer, an emotional battle she shared with barbara