Ms. Jolie’s piece in The New York Times echoed for me with a play I wrote a few years ago about the race to decode the human genome, thus gaining access to all sorts of new information which we now have to face with sober eyes.
KELLIE: . . . You discovered the Breast Cancer Gene.
FRANCIS: The BRCA 1 sequence. Helped to discover. Yes.
KELLIE: My mom died of breast cancer.
FRANCIS: I’m sorry to hear that.
KELLIE: Ashkenazi Jew.
FRANCIS: Then you must know Ashkenazi Jew’s are several times more likely to develop the mutation
KELLIE: Yup. And if they have it they face an 80% to 90% chance of getting breast cancer in their lifetimes, particularly at a young age. And you must know that some women who test positive—and I can’t say as I blame ‘em—elect to under go prophylactic mastectomy.
FRANCIS: Yes I do know that. May I ask: have you tested for the sequence?
KELLIE: No.
FRANCIS: You should.
KELLIE: I know.
FRANCIS: You shouldn’t wait too long.
KELLIE: I’m not in a rush to chop my tits off.