Angelina Jolie's aunt has died of breast cancer less than two weeks after the actress revealed she had a double mastectomy to avoid the disease.
Jolie's aunt Debbie Martin died on Sunday in a San Diego area hospital. She was 61
Martin was the younger sister of Jolie's mother Marcheline Bertrand, who also passed away from the same disease in 2007, reported People magazine.
According to Martin's husband, Ron, she had the same defective BRCA1 gene that Jolie does but did not know it until after her 2004 cancer diagnosis.
"Had we known, we certainly would have done exactly what Angelina did," Ron said.
While Jolie was not able to be with her aunt, she had seen Martin many times since her diagnosis, and both Jolie and her brother James Haven had been in contact throughout this past week to lend their support.
"Angelina has been sending her wishes. She and my wife texted each other. It was difficult for my wife, during the last few months, to communicate," Ron added.
The 37-year-old Jolie had that her doctors estimated she had a 50 percent risk of getting ovarian cancer but an 87 percent risk of breast cancer.
She had her breasts removed first and prepares for more surgery to have her ovaries removed.
