Thursday 16 May 2013
For a while, I took Angelina Jolie snatching Jennifer Aniston's husband very personal. I mean, the thing pain me eh. Then when they said Angie tried to 'destroy' Jen, kai kai kai! Plus, that she said she didn't have female friends. That was it! I decided this women is evil! And everything she did from then on was coloured with serious bad-belle. Yes, she is beautiful; but she's evil. Yes, she is philanthropic; she's still evil. I was solidly TeamJen and will fight anyone who dares argue that Brad Pitt is better with his present partner. So, it is very out of character for me to, for a day - on Monday, switch allegiance to TeamAngie.
I absolutely agree that her piece featured on NY Times about her preventive double mastectomy is inspirational (if you haven't read it - where the hell have you been?! - here is a link). It really got me thinking about my own hereditary health risks. My mom, dad & maternal grandmother are all diabetic. My maternal grandfather died from a diabetic injury. My paternal grandmother, who lived to her 90s, suffered hypertension for as long as I knew her. My paternal grandfather died from prostrate cancer (less of a risk for me though, but I suppose cancer is cancer anyhow). As you can see, diabetes is probably something I should be watching out for very closely.
Shamefully, I am not. Aside from avoiding food high in refined sugar (more out of weight concerns than health, I must confess. Even then, I have been known to binge on all that is bad for me when under stress or depressed), I have done very little to reduce my risk. In fact, it's so bad that I know very little about what I could proactively do. I had always kind of associated diabetes with middle age, and since I was a still few decade away from that, I was safe. Indeed, prevalence is higher in older population (that one public health speak, forgive me. I know you sha get what I mean), it is not uncommon in all other ages. Moreover, mortality (death) to diabetes is pretty high enough for Africans (including those in the diaspora) to be a something to be concerned about. These are things I have known for a while now, but paid little personal attention to. It had to take Ms. Jolie to give me a reality kick to bring it home.
I have to commend her also for highlighting that there are many more deaths due to breast cancer in low and middle income countries. This is, actually, not rocket science for any of you who have come across all the 'Save XYZ' on Linda Ikeji or other blogs. These cancer patients, evidently at the terminal stage of the disease, would not wait this long if they would have either been diagnosed early or could have raised sufficient funds on their own for curative surgery/chermotheraphy/etc without having to take to the begging bowls. Preventive surgery and genetic investigations, options available and affordable for Ms. Jolie, are far far away for most Nigerians, and most people from low (especially them) and middle income countries. As such, I wish Angelina had shed a little more light on this area. She is a celebrity advocate for the UN, she must know a thing or two about global health. She has the platform, and seeing how the entire cyberspace is alight with this news of her surgery, she can influence many more people outside the health sector to have serious conversation about the state of health in much of the world.
Over all, it is a nobel thing Angelina Jolie did. And, even if just for a day, I absolutely love her for it!
Ciao
Note: I'm afraid I suffer from enormous time constraint, so I wish to ask that any blogger who visits drops their blog address on the comment box. I have been away for so long, & lost track of who is who in blogville. Thanks. Muah
Lovely lovely theme, Ugo! I'm envious. Cannot wrap my head around anything more than the basic blogger themes.
ReplyDeleteSo... regarding Mizz Jolie.
I remember your vitriol o, well-well! Jennifer Aniston could do no wrong eh? But nne, look at it carefully - Pitt is not a piece of paper that could have been or was taken away, just like that. He went away cos he wanted to. And I lay no blame at his feet. Who wants to be with a sobby, please-be-sorry-for-me person for the rest of their lives? Ah, Jennifer is too wimpy abeg! She should be a nun and let it end there. No offence to nuns though, hian,
And this reconstructive surgery thing - I've been waiting for the daggers to start being flung Angelina's way. For being so pro-active, for being 'superstitious' even. Thankfully, not much has come. Or at least not much that I have read anywhere. Perhaps I haven't been reading a lot?
Still, I am with you on the 'secrecy' - I say she opens up and tells us as much as she can. This is a very encouraging thing she has done and she is such a strong woman that the more she talks about it, the more momentum it will gather and the more preventive measure women will begin to think about...
Nne, careful with the sugar sha o!
Cheers.
U wan tempt me, eh kwa???? I no talk! Am still TeamJen. Dat woman can do no wrong in my eyes
DeleteSame gate crasher...........
DeleteI might be in the minority with that Angie's double mastectomy. I feel it was too radical an act. It is not like it eliminates her chances completely.However, i agree that the awareness she raised in the process was inspiring.
Oh, and this is my blog URL by the way. We are doing it anonymously now. But you know who I am. So, there.
ReplyDeletewww.sitenacorridor.blogspot.co.uk
Adding this to my blogroll right away
Delete