Los Angeles United States. American actress and activist Jane Fonda announced on Friday that she has cancer, and has started chemotherapy in her fight against the disease.
Source: AFP
The 84-year-old double Oscar winner has vowed to fight this “very treatable” disease.
“I have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and have started chemo treatments,” she wrote on her Instagram account.
“It is a very treatable cancer. 80 percent of people survive, so I feel very lucky.”
An environmentalist and supporter of the Democratic Party, Fonda lamented that many others in her situation do not have the same opportunities.
“Nearly every family in America has had to deal with cancer at some point (…), and too many don’t have access to the quality health care that I’m getting, and that’s not right.”
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a type of cancer that begins in the lymphatic system, a part of the body’s immune defenses, and can turn tumors into widespread tumors.
According to the Mayo Clinic, symptoms include: swollen lymph nodes, abdominal pain or swelling, chest pain, cough or trouble breathing, as well as persistent fatigue and fever
“In most cases, doctors don’t know what causes non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” the clinic says on its website.
MILITANCY
Fonda promised that his treatment will not stop him from continuing to act for the environment, and urged action against fossil fuels, which he links to cancer.
“We are living in the most important moment of humanity, because what we do or don’t do now will determine the kind of future to come.”
“I will not let cancer stop me from doing everything I can, using every tool” at my disposal.
He also referred to the mid-term elections in the United States, in which the ruling Democratic Party could lose control of both chambers of Congress.
“You can count on me to be there with you as our army of environmental advocates grows,” he wrote to US President Joe Biden.
Fonda first appeared on screen in 1960, winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for “Klute” (My Past Condemns Me – 1971) and “Coming Home” (1978).
He was an activist against the war in Vietnam, which was worth the rejection of Hollywood.
He also participates in the successful series “Grace and Frankie”, available on Netflix.
The actress comes from a family full of celebrities: her father Henry was a movie legend who won the award for best actor for “On Golden Pond” (The golden years, On the golden lagoon – 1981), while her brother Peter was a relevant figure of the counterculture in the 1960s.
