No one wants to make a decision like Angelina Jolie recently made.  Yet every women knows the intimacy and pain of her decision.  We all respect and honor her choice and her handling of the situation.  Now, we are all trying to wade through the images and information...just in case we have to make this decision. What a tragedy!

Why should we have to make such a drastic change in our life to take control of our breast health?  After the billions that has been raised for breast cancer...it is very sad that a double mastectomy is being touted as a prevention solution for many women.  With Angelina's decision so public, many women will follow her lead without learning about other ideas for their breast health. That's another tragedy.   Her op-ed piece in the NYT sounds like the only options are 3 months of surgery- when there are so many ways to prevent and protect yourself from breast cancer.  

I had a similar decision to make when both my mother and sister were diagnosed with breast cancer six months apart. I had time to study and learn many ideas that I could use to naturally protect our breast health.  They were easy, cost effective and drug free.  I also learned about thermography, a safe, painless, radiation free breast screening.  In 2008 BRAS, Breast Research Awareness and Support, was founded to educate women that there are many ideas we could be using to protect ourselves.  I chose a different course of action...that doesn't get near the media attention.

We have been taught that there is a genetic connection to cancer....yet this is only true for 5% of breast cancers...the other 95% are from unknown or environmental toxins.  From that small group only 2 percent carry the genetic encoding that has the capacity to mutate, especially with radiation screenings such as mammograms.   Statistics can be skewed so easily, and fear is proportional to the cost.  The cost in astronomical and the price is sometimes removing our breasts when other non-invasive methods are known.    

I encourage every women to research, just not follow celebrities who have a lot more money for the genetic testing and the best doctors for reconstructive surgery.   My father's idea has saved my mother's breasts for over a decade.  He asked, "If the cancer comes back and she doesn't have her breast, won't it spread through her body quicker?  Why not do a lumpectomy, then control and manage her breast health? If it returns the breasts can be removed at that time." 

According to research by Dr. Bruce Lipton, genes and DNA do not control our biology.  Instead DNA is controlled by signals from outside the cell, including the energetic messages emanating from our positive and negative thoughts.   Our bodies can be changed as we retrain our thinking.  His epigenetic theory, simply stated - mind over matter- has been proven in almost a thousand studies since the 1980's.   

We can control our genetic predisposition-without surgery.  Everything we do can make a difference.   Dr. Christine Horner, a surgeon specializing in breast reconstruction, says that every educated prevention change we make can drop our breast cancer risk by 30-40%.  Learning several ideas to protect your breast health can drop your risk astronomically.     

Change is good...I challenge all of us to really take control of our breast health.   Specific foods, supplements, exercises and massages, guided imagery, correct bras, radiation free screenings, and protection from EMF's can all lower your risk.   

Check out  www.breastresearchawareness.com.