Jane Fonda has announced that she has cancer and has started chemotherapy, saying she is ‘paying attention to the lessons’ her illness holds in store for her.
Fonda, 84, confirmed that she had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which develops in the lymphatic system before spreading throughout the body.
Thankfully, it is seen as a relatively treatable cancer, with Fonda defiantly vowing not to let it affect her environmental or political activism.
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Sharing the difficult news with fans on Instagram, the actor wrote: “So, my dear friends, I have something personal I want to share. I’ve been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and have started chemo treatments.
“This is a very treatable cancer. 80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky.
“I’m also lucky because I have health insurance and access to the best doctors and treatments. I realize, and it’s painful, that I am privileged in this. Almost every family in America has had to deal with cancer at one time or another and far too many don’t have access to the quality health care I am receiving and this is not right.”
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She added: “We also need to be talking much more not just about cures but about causes so we can eliminate them. For example, people need to know that fossil fuels cause cancer. So do pesticides, many of which are fossil fuel-based, like mine.”
The Grace and Frankie star said she would be doing chemotherapy for six months, and that, so far, she was ‘handling the treatments quite well’.
“Believe me, I will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism,” she continued.
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"Cancer is a teacher and I’m paying attention to the lessons it holds for me. One thing it’s shown me already is the importance of community. Of growing and deepening one’s community so that we are not alone. And the cancer, along with my age - almost 85 - definitely teaches the importance of adapting to new realities.”
Fonda said mankind is currently living through ‘the most consequential time in human history’, as ‘what we do or don’t do right now will determine what kind of future there will be’.
But she said she did not want cancer to keep her from doing what she could to find ‘new ways to use our collective strength to make change’.
“The midterms are looming, and they are beyond consequential so you can count on me to be right there together with you as we grow our army of climate champions,” Fonda said.
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If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week
Jess Hardiman