Angelina Jolie’s children had asked her if she is going to be ill like what happened to her mother and she would always tell them that she will be fine even if she had the gene. She was able to talk to them honestly that she will be fine after her mastectomy. She shared on an opinion she wrote for New York Times.
A new study suggests that the actress is not alone as mothers are very likely to discuss with their children about this condition.
Kenneth Tercyak, lead author of the study and director of behavioral prevention research at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and his colleagues interviewed 221 mothers who had undergone breast cancer testing for the presence of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. 62 percent of these mothers admitted that they discussed the results to their children a month after they found out about the results. Their children age between 8 and 21.
Most mothers would like to share the news immediately to their children if the tests reveal that they are either negative or inconclusive of these genes to their children age 13 and above. This is to keep them from worrying about losing them. The remaining percentage refused to discuss it but have plans of doing so in the future once they feel that their children are mature enough.
The researchers also asked how the mothers feel after discussing it with their children. All of them said that they were happy about their choice. Those who kept it a secret were unhappy because they feel like that they are keeping a secret to their own children.
Experts believe that those who had mothers who had breast cancer are at 50 percent risk of having it too. However, they do not recommend testing on children because the faulty genes appear only when they mature. This may be another reason why some mothers choose not to discuss it because they didn’t want it to cause worry to their children.
The study was published on the July 3 issue of LiveScience.
