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Angelina Jolie Announcement Providing Hope In Tennessee Valley

368 views · Published 14 May 2013 · 3:03 · Indexed 14 November 2026

Channel: WTVC NewsChannel 9 · 2013 · News & Politics

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by Alyssa Spirato Angelina Jolie's announcement is bringing attention to this issue, for many women in the Tennessee Valley. Jolie recently announced she had a preventative double mastectomy and reconstruction after testing positive for the BRCA gene, which if mutates, increases the rik of breast and ovarian cancer.An Ooltewah Mother and daughter have fought the battle against breast cancer - bravely. One after she knew she had the disease, the other before. They both say testing for the genetic mutation is simple and saves lives.Sheryl Hill survived breast cancer three times. So knowing her family history, her daughter, Rachel decided to get tested for the BRCA one and two gene. When Rachel found out she was positive for BRCA 1, she had a preventative double mastectomy and reconstruction at 25-years old.I don't want to have cancer. After watching my mom have cancer, my aunt have cancer, and my grandma have cancer, it's not something that I want to go through. I would rather have this taken care of before I find out that I have cancer and not have to go through the treatments and the pain that they did, says Rachel.She had the support of her mother, Sheryl to help her through.Isn't it better to know then to live in fear? Once I knew, it was very easy for me to make that decision just as easy as it was for my daughter to have her double mastectomy because she knew that she didn't want to go through what everyone else in our family's already gone through, says Sheryl.It's not just fear that keeps many women from getting tested. It's also the steep cost at around $3,700 dollars. But clinics like the MaryEllen Locher Breast Center prepare patients ahead of time.That's really the whole goal of the discussion you have with a genetic counselor. Do you meet the criteria from an insurance standpoint of having the test covered. We don't ever test a patient until we kind of go through that cause we don't want to test a patient then them have to pay out of pocket for quite an expensive test, says Dr. Betsy Washburn.The test is simple. You just swish a solution in your mouth and spit. Results come back in just a few days.It's never too early to test. As far as the surgery, I'm glad that I had the surgery because I'd rather know that my chances of getting cancer were reduced down to the single digits then keeping it up in the higher digits, says Rachel.Dr. Washburn says the most important thing is to know your risks. Some risks include having more than two primary relatives with breast cancer after menopause, as well as family history of breast cancer at a young age.

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