Angelina Jolie is mourning the death of her mother’s sister Debbie Martin, who lost her battle with breast cancer on Sunday. She was 61.
Martin, the younger sister of Angelina’s deceased mother Marcheline Bertrand, carried the “faulty” BRCA gene that led to her sister’s ovarian cancer death in 2007, and their mother’s early demise at age 45 in 1973.
Martin was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004 and only then learned then that she carried the BRCA1 gene that compelled her famous niece to have her breast tissue removed in February 2013.
In 2011, Debbie marked the four year anniversary of her sister’s passing by writing on a tribute blog, “My heart hurts and I just have to learn to slowly walk with my wounds, step by step, with a hole in my heart, yet carrying cherished memories which keep me whole and hold me up day by day.”
According to Debbie’s husband Ronald Martin, “Angelina has been sending her best wishes. She and my wife texted each other. It was difficult for my wife, during the last few months, to communicate.”
Ron weighed in on Jolie’s recent decision to have a double mastectomy, “Because of the BRCA gene on the maternal side of the family, Angelina did the smartest thing on the earth. It takes a lot of courage to have your breasts removed. Had we known, we certainly would have done exactly what Angelina did.”
Photo: WENN