Breast Cancer, Double Mastectomy | featured news

Allyn Rose’s father first suggested the mastectomy when she was a freshman in college. It was a couple years after her mother had succumbed to breast cancer; genetic testing and a long, sad family history of early deaths indicated that Rose, too, was at a high risk.

Sharon Osbourne says she had a double mastectomy after learning she carries a gene that increases the risk of developing breast cancer. "The Talk" co-host told Hello! magazine that "I didn't want to live the rest of my life with that shadow hanging over me." The 60-year-old "America's Got Talent" judge, who had colon cancer a decade ago, said that without the surgery, "the odds are not in my favor."

Film and television star Kathy Bates took to Twitter explained to her fans why they haven't seen or heard from her lately. It turns out the Oscar-winning actress has been fighting breast cancer.

Even though I’m a healthy woman right now, I'm going to have both my breasts removed because I’m a member of a very exclusive club: Like one out of 1,000 women, I have the BRCA gene, a genetic mutation that dramatically ups my chance of cancer.<