Who is the real you? The happy, focused, vital woman who made the drastic choice to "mutilate herself" and then move on? Or the physically intact, "natural" woman who lives in dread of the next round of surveillance?

I don't know if my mother could have been saved, or simply had her life extended, if she had better access to medical care. It's possible that for her, there wasn't anything else to do. For so many other mothers though, that is not the case.

I have been involved in research in this area for 17 years, since shortly after BRCA1 and BRCA2 were discovered, and I have no idea what I would do if I were a woman faced with this decision. The diagnosis of a mutation is just words on paper, but the risks they foreshadow are very real.

Unlike Ms. Jolie, I didn't look like someone in a science fiction movie. I woke up with my mind forever pacified by the weight in my chest from the implants.

Reading her thoughtful Op-Ed in the New York Times, I could not help but think about Ms. Jolie's ubiquitous Lara Croft character -- the adventurer, the warrior, the intellectual, the sex symbol. Today, Ms. Jolie has stepped out in what may be one of her most defining roles.

Like me, Angelina Jolie opted to do whatever she could to drastically decrease the odds of being diagnosed with cancer -- she underwent a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy.

Some experts say finding out that you carry the BRCA mutation can be just as devastating as finding out you have cancer. They may be right.

It is terror your friends and family do not get to touch or soothe because you pretend it's not there, and that is how you get dressed every day.

I have come to realize recently that my memories of my mother over the past 30 years consist more of those times when I have felt her presence since her death than when she was alive.

As a cancer survivor, I have read numerous books and studies that purport a relationship between eating healthy, exercising regularly, reducing stress, getting sufficient sleep and lowering your risk of developing cancer or cancer recurrence.

If you have relatives who've suffered from breast or ovarian cancer (even pancreatic or prostate cancers), then ask about genetic testing and don't allow the fear of the unknown to jeopardize your health. I'm here to cheer you on. We are all here to cheer you on.