20 ............... Sunday, March 29, 2015
1GM
1GM
Sunday, March 29, 2015 ...............
Pictures: COLEMAN-RAYNOR
SIX MEMBERS OF STAR’S CLOSE FAMILY KILLED BY CANCER
MUM MARCHELINE
COUSIN FRANCINE
Breast cancer victim
GREAT AUNT STELLA
Breast cancer victim
Ovarian cancer victim
WITH ANGELINA
GRANDAD ROLLAND
Sweat gland cancer victim
21
Outrage . . . Sir John
Fury over
uni ban
on terror
courses
EXCLUSIVE
by DAVID WILLETTS
EXCLUSIVE
By PETE SAMSON
A YOUNG Angelina Jolie
poses in a haunting photo
that shows how her family
has been devastated by a
deadly cancer gene.
The star, 39, has revealed
her brave decision to remove
her ovaries and fallopian tubes
due to her relatives’ history of
BRCA gene mutation.
This 1977 portrait features six
family members now dead due to
the gene — which sees sufferers hit
by cancer early in life.
Angelina is being held by mum
Marcheline Bertrand, who died of
ovarian cancer in 2007 at 56.
Also pictured are the star’s aunt
Debbie Martin — killed by breast
cancer in 2013 at 61 — and greataunt Stella Laws and cousin Francine, also hit by the same disease.
Alongside them is Angelina’s
grandad Rolland Bertrand, who
succumbed to sweat gland cancer
in 1985 at 61.
A few feet away is her uncle Raleigh, in his mid-50s when he lost a
prostate cancer battle in 2009.
Another uncle Ron Martin —
Debbie’s widower — released the
snap taken at Rolland’s Las Vegas
Then and now . . . little Ange and her
mum Marcheline, and left, with Brad
PICTURE
REVEALS
WHY SHE
HAD NEW
SURGERY
AUNT DEBBIE
Breast cancer victim
UNCLE RALEIGH
Prostate cancer victim
Angelina’s tragic toll
home to raise awareness of the disease. And he believes Angelina’s
courageous move — revealed to a
US newspaper — may save hundreds of thousands of people from
losing their lives to it.
Ron, 69, has just launched a
charity, the Bertrand BRCA Foundation, to help people at risk of the
DNA glitch.
He said: “She did a great thing.
But it was tearful reading the article because you felt her pain.
“She’s very private. In exposing
her medical history, she’s doing it
for a cause. She can save hundreds
of thousands of lives.
“We hope to carry on that
mission with our foundation.”
The disease began devastating the family even before the
photo was taken.
Angelina’s gran Lois Bertrand died of ovarian cancer at
Crusade . . . uncle Ron
just 45, while great-gran Virginia
Gouwens was killed by the same
disease at 53. Ron said the Hollywood beauty’s gesture would drive
forward his foundation’s work.
He said at home in Escondido,
California: “We’re in the trenches,
she’s at the spearhead.
“It’s affecting many families. It
just happens that she’s probably the
most famous person with the gene.
“Less than one per cent of
women have it, but it is
behind ten per cent of all
breast cancers.” Ron also
tearfully paid tribute to his
wife Debbie, who battled
cancer for nine years.
He said: “She never complained once. She had five
rounds of chemo and several
of radiation. She was strong. She
thought she was blessed as she
lived longer then most of her relatives. She knew she was desperately
ill but she never gave up. There
was always hope.
“We were accepted on to a
clinical trial a few months before
she passed away. But because her
cancer was so advanced, she
couldn’t swallow the pill, which
couldn’t be broken up or crushed.
“So she was eliminated from the
trial because the cancer was closing her oesophagus.”
Debbie died in an Escondido hospital in May 2013, less then two
weeks after Angelina revealed she
had undergone a double mastectomy to avoid the disease.
Describing his ailing wife’s reac-
tion at learning of Angelina’s op,
Ron said: “We were in the hospital
at the time and Debbie was elated.
She was proud and happy Angelina
had a chance to beat this.”
Sadly, the Maleficent actress was
unable to visit her aunt on her
deathbed, but brother James and
actor dad Jon Voight did.
Ron, who runs a sewing machine
firm, said: “She was close to her
aunt. We were all a very close
family. Growing up, Angelina and
my son Cory were best buddies.”
Angelina revealed she decided —
with the support of hubby Brad
Pitt, 51 — to remove her ovaries and
fallopian tubes after doctors spotted
“inflammatory markers” that could
indicate early signs of cancer.
She said: “I went through what I
imagine thousands of other women
have felt. I told myself to stay
calm, to be strong and that I had
no reason to think I wouldn’t live
to see my children grow up and to
meet my grandchildren.
“I called my husband in France,
who was on a plane within hours.
“The beautiful thing about such
moments is that there is so much
clarity. You know what you live for
and what matters. It is polarising
and it is peaceful.
“I feel feminine and grounded in
the choices I am making for myself
and my family. I know my children
will never have to say, ‘Mum died
of ovarian cancer’.”
Debbie fell ill in 2002 around the
time scientists were discovering the
gene and how to detect it. Ron
said: “Had they discovered that
gene five years earlier, she would
be alive because we would have
done what Angelina did.
“Debbie’s sister Marcheline was
tested and found to have both
BRCA 1 and 2.
“She sent the results to Debbie. It
was easy to do tests on her with
her sister’s results.
“Then we discovered Debbie had
BRCA 2 and it had spread.
“Debbie had her ovaries removed.
She was probably destined to get
ovarian cancer if she had beaten
the breast cancer.
“We just took them out and
immediately put her in menopause.”
Ron hopes his charity — launched
with sons Cory and Chris and
Angelina’s brother James Haven —
will shortly be granted official status by the US Government. The
battle to beat the BRCA 2 defect is
a matter of life and death for him
as his two sons carry it.
Ron explained that male sufferers
must decide whether to remove
their prostate gland to prevent
being struck by the disease.
And he said of his charity: “It’s
to make people aware what puts
them at risk of having the BRCA
mutation through a family history.
“It’s to inform them how they can
get tested and what to do if they
have the gene mutation.
A lot of people haven’t heard of
BRCA — and a lot wouldn’t know
what to do if they had it.”
Additional reporting: HUGO DANIEL
[email protected]
SHOULD YOU HAVE OP?
SHE’S been brave, as there are consequences of removing both ovaries.
As well as eggs, they’re the main
source of female hormone oestrogen.
Taking them away brings on the
menopause. That means hot flushes,
night sweats, headaches, palpitations
and trouble focusing and sleeping.
Later, there’s vaginal dryness, loss
of bone strength and heart disease.
Angelina had an 87 per cent risk
of breast cancer and 50 per cent of
ovarian cancer. Her ops cut that by
up to 95 per cent but it won’t ever
be zero. Should others follow suit?
By
CAROL COOPER
Sun Doctor
BRCA1 raises the risk of ovarian, fallopian tube and pancreatic cancer.
The NHS can test, but the many
gene mutations mean that it’s like
looking for a needle in a haystack.
However, if you have more than
two close relatives with the same
cancer, or with breast and ovarian
cancer, see your GP. There’s also key
advice at CancerResearchUK.org.
HUNDREDS of foreign
students
have
been
banned from UK university courses teaching how
to build nuclear, biological
and chemical weapons.
But MPs are furious the
Government will not extend the ban to wannabe
terrorists born in Britain.
Some 739 overseas students have been stopped
from
studying
such
courses
under
the
Academic
Technology
Approval Scheme.
Sir John Stanley —
chairman of the powerful
Committee
on
Arms
Export Controls — said:
“The fact 739 students
have had to be barred
indicates this is grounds
for serious concern.
“It
is
extraordinary
given the threat we face
for the Government to go
on refusing to extend this
to those in the UK.
“We have made the recommendation for at least
two years but it has been
consistently rejected.”
PC’s wife
death rap
A
HERO
cop
was
charged with murdering
his new wife yesterday —
after being arrested at
their semi yards from his
force’s HQ.
PC Otis Goldsmith, 49,
was led away by colleagues after wife Jill,
also 49, was found dead
at
the
former
police
house in Northampton.
The dad of three —
hailed a hero by his chief
constable six years ago
for rescuing families from
a tower-block inferno —
wed the widow last May.
Goldsmith
was
remanded in custody by
Corby magistrates.
He
will
appear
at
Northampton crown court
on Tuesday.
300 walk
for Becky
MORE than 300 people
joined a walk in memory
of
murdered
teenager
Becky Watts yesterday.
Her family and friends
held
banners
and
released balloons in honour of the 16-year-old.
Becky’s remains were
found after she went
missing from her home
in Bristol last month.
Her stepbrother Nathan
Matthews, 28, appeared
in
court
this
week
charged with murder.
I’M A NINJ-ASS
A
“superhero”
who
patrols for baddies in a
black ninja costume was
nicked
after
scaring
OAPs in Florida, US.