Actress Jane Fonda has disclosed she has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
The 84-year-old actress, activist and star of Netflix’s “Grace and Frankie” announced the news on Instagram Friday.
“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,” she said. “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.”
Fonda added that she’s doing chemotherapy for six months, which she’s handling “quite well.” The star said she won’t let the treatment get in the way of her activism.
“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.”
Previously, Fonda has shared the importance of staying healthy while aging.
She told Glamour magazine that she sleeps at least eight hours nightly, meditates and tries to maximize her time in nature.
“When you get older, you realize that staying healthy is joyful and critical because age isn’t so much chronology,” she said. “You can be very old at 84, which is my age, but you can also be very young. My dad died seven years younger than I am now, and he seemed so old because he was sick.”
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