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"  Yesterday, we (and the world) were blown away by the news that Angelina Jolie had undergone a preventative double mastectomy to reduce her odds of developing breast cancer.  In a surprisingly candid New York Times essay, the notoriously private Jolie said that she has BRCA1, a hereditary gene in women that makes them highly susceptible to cancer. The procedure, she explained, reduced her odds of developing breast cancer from 87 percent to under five percent. One nugget of info that she also mentioned: She has a 50 percent risk of developing ovarian cancer, a disease that killed her mother.  Now, People magazine has revealed that the mother of six is planning to remove her ovaries as well. Why? It can eliminate her odds of developing ovarian cancer. Some doctors recommend that women who carry BRCA1 have the surgery by age 40, or when they&amp;#039;re done having children, but it can trigger early menopause. Screening for ovarian cancer is more difficult than screening for breast cancer, but the disease is more deadly. We can&amp;#039;t applaud Angelina enough: To go through something like this must be extremely difficult, but by sharing her story with the world, she may encourage more women to get tested for BRCA1\u2014and save lives of those struggling with the same decision. After hearing Angelina&amp;#039;s news, a 38-year-old Cosmo staffer and mother of two revealed that she has BRCA1 and has also been advised to have her ovaries removed by age 40. CNN anchor Zoraida Sambolin also revealed yesterday that she&amp;#039;ll undergo a preventative double mastectomy\u2014and that Angelina&amp;#039;s story gave her &amp;quot;strength.&amp;quot; Way to go, Angelina. Brad Pitt isn&amp;#039;t the only one who thinks you&amp;#039;re a hero. Click here for more on BRCA1 and whether you should get tested. Want more from Korin? Follow her on Twitter. Photo: PacificCoastNews.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/news/a12867/angelina-jolie-ovaries/>