Originally Posted by moneypenny20

I consider the likes of fighting cancer to be a strength, not bravery. The husband 'fought' cancer last year, he wasn't brave. The chemo ****ed his body up, he still wasn't brave, he was strong and just had to do something to ensure he stood a better chance of getting better. If I were in her situation I honestly believe it would be a no brainer to make the same decision. They're just breasts, just another part of my body. I know I'm a woman with or without them. I no longer have a Uterus, doesn't make me less of a woman.

Originally Posted by Jon77

From my persepctive I think it is brave. When my mum got diagnosed she was given the option of having the same operation. But my mum being my mum she didn't want to tell us she had cancer and she didn't want to tell us about the operation. This was because firstly she didn't want to worry us and secondly she was VERY nervous about the operation.

In the end she did tell us but it was a very hard thing for her to communicate to her family.

Can you imagine dealing with those kinds of issues being on the world stage.

Bravery comes in all kinds of situations. For some with phobias / fears it could be stepping outside the front door or answering the telephone! I have know peope sink to their knees and lock up with terror at the thought of doing such small things, but I have also seen people face up to situations like this.

Bravery cannot be catergorised like being called a 'genious', this probably is over used. I don't feel the same way about the term bravery being over used.

The reality is that many people in their day to day lives are facing up to situations that instill great fear in to them and good on them for facing them, who am I to comment if they are brave or not. Also I don't think the fact she could afford this procedure and others can't adds anything, that is a different discussion.

I do congratulate her on bringing genetic testing for the BRCA gene to the public's attention and showing that it is ok to be a woman minus breasts.

"Being brave is when you have to do something because you know it is right, but at the same time, you are afraid to do it, because it might hurt or whatever. But you do it anyway.”

Originally Posted by Dorothy

The difference is Jon that your mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Angelina Jolie has not. She had a mother who passed on the BRCA2 gene which would give her an 85% chance of developing breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer in her lifetime. After having a double mastectomy and hysterectomy she has dropped her risk to approximately 5%.

I do think that it must have been an incredibly difficult decision for a 37 year old woman (who is in the world spotlight) to make. However, I don't see it as brave. Or at least any more brave than my having my gallbladder out because there was a very real chance it would burst and cause my possible death.

Originally Posted by Jon77

jeessuusss your a hardened lot in here these days Internet forums I tells yer, opinions really are like an arsehole, everyone has one.

Originally Posted by moneypenny20

Already been roundly abused for my comments on her elsewhere but I don't see anything brave about it tbh. She discovered she had an 85% chance of getting a seriously bloody awful disease and made the decision to lower that percentage to 5%. She made a sensible, intelligent decision but brave? Not in my book.

Originally Posted by commonwealth

I want to have boobies.

Originally Posted by moneypenny20

Already been roundly abused for my comments on her elsewhere but I don't see anything brave about it tbh. She discovered she had an 85% chance of getting a seriously bloody awful disease and made the decision to lower that percentage to 5%. She made a sensible, intelligent decision but brave? Not in my book.

Originally Posted by eddie007

Most people just quietly get on with it.

Originally Posted by itigo

I agree. I have a friend who had the same thing done but a hysterectomy too for the same reasons. She has a condition which means that her cancer count rises every few months and she has to go for more treatment. She gets on with it all quietly and is very dignified. She has 2 children who are not yet teens and it must be incredibly difficult to keep going sometimes but she does and she doesn't need the world to know about it.