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Post Info TOPIC: Applegate calls double mastectomy a `tough' choice
D


Hermes

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Applegate calls double mastectomy a `tough' choice
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This hit home since it's the same thing I went through.  The one difference is that I am BRCA2 positive and she's BRCA1 positive, which means she has approximately an 85% chance of developing ovarian cancer.  She also said she wants to try to have a family -- I was advised against that because my cancer was estrogen receptor positive -- maybe her's wasn't?  I'm also curious as to how the media will treat her while she undergoes reconstruction.  The tissue expansion will look odd and I hope they don't pick on her during that time...

I'm glad she's being open about it. She helps give a face to and increase awareness of BRCA gene mutations.

Applegate calls double mastectomy a `tough' choice

In this Jan. 27, 2008 file photo, Christina Applegate is shown at the 14th Annual Screen A...


Tue Aug 19, 9:18 AM EDT

Christina Applegate is taking the long view of her battle with breast cancer — the really long view.

Speaking on ABC News' "Good Morning America" in her first interview since announcing her diagnosis earlier this month, the "Samantha Who?" star said she had a double mastectomy three weeks ago. She'll undergo reconstructive surgery over the next eight months.

"I'm going to have cute boobs 'til I'm 90, so there's that," she joked in the interview, which aired Tuesday. "I'll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I'll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table."

The 36-year-old actress elected to remove both breasts even though the disease was contained in one breast. She said she is now cancer-free.

Applegate called the operation a logical decision. Her mother battled breast cancer, and she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation linked to breast and ovarian cancer.

"I just wanted to kind of be rid of it," she said. "So this was the choice I made and it was a tough one."

The experience has been an emotional roller coaster, she said.

"Sometimes, you know, I cry and sometimes I scream and I get really angry and I get really like, you know, into wallowing in self-pity sometimes," she said. "And I think that's — it's all part of healing, and anyone who's going through it out there, it's OK to cry. It's OK to fall on the ground and just scream if you want to."

The Emmy-nominated "Samantha Who?" star has kept her sense of humor intact.

"I've laughed so much in the last three weeks," she said. "I love living, and I really love my life, and I knew that from this moment on it was only going to be good that was going to be coming. Yeah, I'll face challenges, but you can't get any darker than where I've been. So knowing that in my soul gave me the strength to just say, `I have to get out there and make this a positive.'"

Applegate's cancer was detected early through a doctor-ordered MRI. She said she's starting a program to help women at high risk for breast cancer to meet the costs of an MRI, which is not always covered by insurance.

Applegate is scheduled to appear on a one-hour TV special, "Stand Up to Cancer," to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sept. 5 to raise funds for cancer research.

She has been nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the ABC show "Samantha Who?", in which she plays a woman who wakes from a coma with no memory of who she is.



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Chanel

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I was waiting for you to post on this, I completely thought how similar your stories were as I heard more about her choice. I think it's great and brave that she is out and speaking about it so freely. I'm sure it will help alot of women out there to remember you're never to young to start getting mammograms and getting yourself checked out.

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Marc Jacobs

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I was honestly very shocked to read this about her. I guess it's because when I think of breast cancer I always think of older women. I think it is great she is going to public with her story, it really shows that this is a disease that affects women of all ages.

I can not comprehend what a tough choice that must be ....

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tara t


Marc Jacobs

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please forgive my ignorance, but what was her other choice?  chemo? radiation?

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Hermes

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tara t wrote:

please forgive my ignorance, but what was her other choice?  chemo? radiation?


They only found cancer in one breast and she had a lumpectomy.  She decided that instead of going through frequent testing and anxiety for the rest of her life, as well as knowing her high risk of recurrence with her BRCA1 mutation (which may not be contained and thus more deadly the next time they find it), she opted for a preventative (prophylactic) bilateral mastectomy vs. chasing the cancer that was highly likely to return.  It was the same choice I had to make, however, they found cancer in my other breast at the time of the surgery, so I'm really glad I did it.

Basically she made the choice to remove body parts to increase her chances of having a longer and greater quality of life.  I feel for her -- it's a horrible, horrible thing to go through.



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Kate Spade

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That is a really aweful thing to have to go through!

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Kenneth Cole

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D - you and Christina Applegate have my deepest respect for the bravery you have shown in making what must be just a heart-wrenching choice. I am glad that even in Hollywood she was able to put her health first and show others the reality of BRCA gene mutations & breast cancer. I too hope the paparazzi give her the respect she deserves - there is so much emphasis placed on women's bodies in Hollywood. Perhaps there is hope they might see the bigger picture and consider health and courage as well as the fact that she remains just as beautiful....

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tara t


Marc Jacobs

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D wrote:

tara t wrote:

please forgive my ignorance, but what was her other choice?  chemo? radiation?


They only found cancer in one breast and she had a lumpectomy.  She decided that instead of going through frequent testing and anxiety for the rest of her life, as well as knowing her high risk of recurrence with her BRCA1 mutation (which may not be contained and thus more deadly the next time they find it), she opted for a preventative (prophylactic) bilateral mastectomy vs. chasing the cancer that was highly likely to return.  It was the same choice I had to make, however, they found cancer in my other breast at the time of the surgery, so I'm really glad I did it.

Basically she made the choice to remove body parts to increase her chances of having a longer and greater quality of life.  I feel for her -- it's a horrible, horrible thing to go through.


the reason i asked is i have 2 friends who have both had mastectomies...  they didn't have a choice.  they were both 27.  it's terrible.  it happens so quickly. 



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Hermes

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tara t wrote:

D wrote:

tara t wrote:

please forgive my ignorance, but what was her other choice?  chemo? radiation?


They only found cancer in one breast and she had a lumpectomy.  She decided that instead of going through frequent testing and anxiety for the rest of her life, as well as knowing her high risk of recurrence with her BRCA1 mutation (which may not be contained and thus more deadly the next time they find it), she opted for a preventative (prophylactic) bilateral mastectomy vs. chasing the cancer that was highly likely to return.  It was the same choice I had to make, however, they found cancer in my other breast at the time of the surgery, so I'm really glad I did it.

Basically she made the choice to remove body parts to increase her chances of having a longer and greater quality of life.  I feel for her -- it's a horrible, horrible thing to go through.


the reason i asked is i have 2 friends who have both had mastectomies...  they didn't have a choice.  they were both 27.  it's terrible.  it happens so quickly. 


OK, for example, my cancer was in three areas of my right breast. Because of the locations, the surgeon recommended a mastectomy. She could have done a lumpectomy, but it would have looked horrible vs. a complete mastectomy and reconstruction.  My left breast was a preventative choice, even though at the time no cancer was detected there (however they did find it there during the post-surgery biopsy.)  No one forces you to have a mastectomy, there is always a choice. Now, whether some choices are smarter than others is another story.

Heck, the choice can be made to do nothing at all, as in the case of my Grandmother and aunt who both died as a result. What you have done surgically with breast cancer is always a choice.

In Christina's situation, her first choice was to undergo a lumpectomy in one breast.  She then decided that instead of having a lumpectomy, going through the stress of frequent testing, chasing the cancer and cutting it out as it is found, as well as taking the risk of having it go into her lymph nodes and possibly dying from it, she made the decision to remove the breast that received the lumpectomy as well as her other breast that no cancer was found in.  That was the choice. She (and I for that matter) did not have to have a bilateral mastectomy, but made the choice to do so considering the risk of recurrence (which is very high for a BRCA positive person.)

The reason she did not undergo chemo is because the cancer was not found in her lymph nodes.  The reason she did not undergo radiation is because a mastectomy was performed.  Radiation is typically given for lumpectomies to try to kill any cancer cells that may exist in the remaining breast tissue.  When a mastectomy is performed, all the breast tissue is removed, therefore there is no breast tissue to do radiation treatment on.



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