Debbie Martin found out too late about inherited defective gene that prompted actor to have preventive double mastectomy
Angelina Jolie's aunt has died of breast cancer less than two weeks after the actor herself revealed she had a double mastectomy to avoid the disease.
Jolie's aunt Debbie Martin died at age 61 on Sunday in a San Diego area hospital, her husband Ron Martin has told the Associated Press.
Debbie Martin was the younger sister of Jolie's mother Marcheline Bertrand, whose own death from cancer in 2007 inspired the surgery that Jolie described in a 14 May New York Times op-ed.
According to her husband, Debbie Martin had the same defective BRCA1 gene that Jolie does but did not know it until after her 2004 cancer diagnosis.
"Had we known, we certainly would have done exactly what Angelina did," Ron Martin said in a phone interview.
Ron Martin said that after getting breast cancer Debbie Martin had her ovaries removed preventively because she was also at very high genetic risk for ovarian cancer, which has killed several women in her family.
The 37-year-old Jolie said in her op-ed that her doctors estimated she had a 50% risk of getting ovarian cancer but an 87% risk of breast cancer.
She had her breasts removed first, reducing her likelihood to a mere 5%. She described the three-step surgical process in detail in the op-ed "because I hope that other women can benefit from my experience".
The story – a surprise to most except those closest to Jolie – spurred a broad discussion of genetic testing and pre-emptive surgery.
Martin's death was first reported by E! News.