The actress said she counts herself lucky because the cancer is 'very treatable.'
Jane Fonda has just announced she's been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The 84-year-old actress took to Instagram on Friday to reveal the news, while adding that she's also already started chemo treatments.
"This is a very treatable cancer," she said in a lengthy post on Instagram. "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."
Fonda, who made headlines in 2020 with her climate change protests in Washington, D.C., and subsequent arrests, also revealed that she's doing chemo for six months. She said she's "handling the treatments quite well and, believe me, I will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism."
She added that "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."
"We’re living through the most consequential time in human history because what we do or don’t do right now will determine what kind of future there will be and I will not allow cancer to keep me from doing all I can, using every tool in my toolbox and that very much includes continuing to build this Fire Drill Fridays community and finding new ways to use our collective strength to make change," Fonda continued.
Fonda, who turns 85 in December, told ET back in July that when it comes to aging, she encourages it.
"I know this sounds strange, but it's great to get older. I mean, obviously it beats the alternative, which is to die," Fonda said at the time. "It's so hard to be young. I mean, it's always been hard to be young -- it's even more hard now... It's all like, 'Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to do? What kind of a job am I supposed to have? Where am I supposed to go with my life? Why am I even here? Who should be my friends?'"
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