‘Life comes with many challenges,” Angelina Jolie wrote this week as she described her choice to pursue a prophylactic double mastectomy and breast-reconstruction surgery. Speaking woman to woman, Jolie said she decided to speak out to encourage other women to consider the “strong options” they have the ability to “take on and take control of.”
Not to take anything away from her remarkable act, but . . . how realistic is it to equate Jolie’s choice with ours?
Federal law doesn’t require insurers to pay for prophylactic mastectomies, and many don’t. Coverage for genetic testing, which Jolie acknowledges carries a hefty pricetag, isn’t universal either. Plus, many factors other than genes can contribute to disease-risk analysis, and some in the medical community say that Jolie’s protocol isn’t for everyone.
And, as the national economy continues to drag, a job with health insurance (let alone a middle-class lifestyle) is not so easy to come by.
Even if you’re covered, there’s more than insurance premiums to worry about: Tack on the cost of deductibles, co-pays and time off from work, and elective surgery can still be cost prohibitive. For the uninsured, the tab for these procedures runs $20,000, exclusive of genetic testing. In some areas, it can run as high as $50,000.
Speaking mother to mother, I can certainly identify with Jolie’s fierce, primal instinct to protect her children. There’s no question that her love seems absolute.
But let’s be real. Regular people don’t have unlimited access to funds, or personal assistants. We don’t always have the option of keeping our ordeals private. And despite our longing to shield them, our children are often uncomfortable in the midst of troubles American families face.
Again, I’m not criticizing Jolie’s brave personal choice. But pretending we can emulate Hollywood icons can leave us dissatisfied when we fail to measure up. Look at the correlation between the glamorization of unwed childbearing, cohabitation and infidelity, and the troubling state of marriage and unwed motherhood.
To her credit, Jolie recognizes that there are alternatives to surgery and counsels women to make their own informed decisions. I hope that part of her message doesn’t get drowned out — it’s the most important. And our decision to choose a different path — or make peace with our lack of choices — doesn’t render us cowards or heedless or weak.
One of my good friends is battling incurable breast cancer. She has worked steadily and publicly through it every day to feed her family and put her children through college. I gasped when I saw the loss of her magnificent hair.
Nothing in her genetic history or lifestyle predisposed her to this terrible disease, but here’s what she told me: She said she’s glad that, of all the women in her family, she’s the one who got cancer — because, given the odds, it’s now likely her sisters and children will be spared.
To me, that’s courage and strength and grace from a hero we can all identify with. There are spokesmen for the common man — and woman — all around us. We need only look.
Beverly Willett is a writer and lawyer. Visit her at
www.beverlywillett.com.