Brave, but perhaps not as fearless as we thought. Is fear as deadly as cancer?
Something my sister said got me to thinking.
About The Decision.
Most families have experienced the ruthless and deadly touch of cancer. We have watched our loved ones, battle-weary, wither and bow before dying. While personal, cancer gnawing away at a close relative is never as up close and personal as getting that diagnosis that eats away at you.
This unhappy, luckless, godless position, many people find themselves in each and everyday.
Too many.
But not Angelina Jolie.
We brush our teeth to prevent cavities. We maintain a normal body weight to prevent high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes. We eat right and exercise in hopes of living a healthy life, in hopes of preventing everything else counter to lengthening our days.
If you’re done having children, sure, lose the ovaries. By the sheer number of women, for the sake of vanity, willing to allow a doctor to fiddle with it, breast tissue seems far easier to mold than a hand, a foot, a lung, or a brain. Angelina Jolie’s decision undoubtedly would have been different if the outcome would negatively effect her world-renowned beauty—her vanity.
But, as Solomon forewarned: “All is vanity” Ecclesiastes 2:17.
As Christians, we should have unfailing, unwavering faith, the kind of faith that uses the all-powerful, all-healing Word of God in all boldness to kill cancer. Even the fear of cancer. But too often, like the rest of the world, we do not.
Angelina’s mom, Marcheline Bertrand, an actress, had breast cancer and died from ovarian cancer at 56. Angelina’s maternal grandmother had ovarian cancer and succumbed at age 45. Her aunt Debbie Martin, also on her mother’s side of the family, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 and died at age 61 in May of this year.
“Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could.” –Angelina Jolie, “My Medical Choice,” New York Times, May 14, 2013
Given her family history, genetic testing for BRCA mutations was without a doubt warranted. At age 37, Angelina made the decision to undergo a preventive double mastectomy in February of this year after doctors informed her she had an 87% risk of developing breast cancer due to a defective BRCA1 gene, the same gene carried by her aunt Debbie. The mastectomy decreased her chances of developing breast cancer to under 5 percent. Reconstructive surgery followed in April.
According to reports, Angelina’s mission to conquer cancer before it conquers her is not over. She plans to undergo a preventive oophorectomy, intending to reduce a 50% risk of developing ovarian cancer due to the same deadly genetic anomaly.
That “something” my sister said was that Angelina’s actions were of fear, not of faith. And like love, fear is a great motivator.
The Angelina Jolie Decision might not have been the kind of faith Christians daydream of possessing like the hungry salivates for food. That “crazy” faith. Still, however drastic, it was far from foolish.
