Christina Applegate? Cancer? BRCA1+? You betcha.

So apparently Christina Applegate had breast cancer. I don't remember hearing anything about it. But according to this USAToday article:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2008-08-19-applegate_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

she is having a double mastectomy with reconstruction... and she's BRCA1 POSITIVE!

Let me tell you why I think it's so significant. First off she's young and a popular actress with young women - a household name even. And she's being pretty outspoken about it, it seems. So I think this is a great opportunity for the world to take notice and for her to be an active member of the BRCA/hereditary-high-risk community. The article says she's starting a program to give women more affordable access to MRIs and she's also appearing on a one-hour special about cancer on TV. So yay for that!

It's funny because right after the FORCE conference, my stepmom was saying how FORCE needs a celebrity representative to get the word out to more people. It needs Hollywood! (I know that's a sad notion and it doesn't really need Hollywood, but it would be nice and a big boost.) Well - now the opportunity is here!

I wonder if more actors/actresses will come out of the woodwork with their family histories and testing?

Here's a quote of hers from the article to leave you with, and I think it's very true:
"Sometimes, you know, I cry and sometimes I scream and I get really angry and I get really like, you know, into wallowing in self-pity sometimes," she said. "And I think that's — it's all part of healing, and anyone who's going through it out there, it's OK to cry. It's OK to fall on the ground and just scream if you want to."

SO MUCH good luck to Christina. We're rooting for you!