The actress said that she had started chemotherapy and that she wouldn’t let anything get in the way of her work to protect the environment.
On Friday, actress Jane Fonda said that she had been diagnosed with non-lymphoma, Hodgkin’s a cancer of the lymph system that can be treated, and that she would be getting chemotherapy for the next six months.
In an Instagram post, she said, “This is cancer that is easy to treat.” “I’m very happy.”
Fonda, who is 84 and has been a social activist for a long time and has won many awards, said in her Instagram post that she felt lucky to have health insurance and “access to the best doctors and treatments.”
“I know this is a privilege, and it hurts to know it,” she said. “Almost every family in the U.S. has had to deal with cancer at some point, and far too many don’t have access to the good care I’m getting, which is wrong.”
Fonda has won two Oscars for her roles in the movies “Klute” and “Coming Home.” She has also been a producer, a person who makes documentaries, and an activist. In 2019, she was arrested more than once after protesting in Washington to bring attention to how serious the climate crisis was.
Non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s is the fifth most common type of cancer in the United States, according to Dr. Matthew Matasar, an oncologist who specializes in the illness at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This year, there will be more than 80,000 new cases of non-lymphoma, Hodgkin’s according to the National Cancer Institute.
Dr. Matasar said that there are more than 100 different kinds of non-lymphoma, Hodgkin’s but the fact that it starts in the immune cells is what makes it stand out.
Non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s is more likely to happen to people 60 and older, said Dr. Leonidas Platanias, director of the Lurie Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine. If it is found early, a person has a better chance of living.
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Even though it’s not clear what kind of non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s Ms. Fonda has, all of them can be treated, and some patients even go into a long remission. Dr. William Dahut, the chief scientific officer of the American Cancer Society, said, “It’s not a death sentence.”
Pain, night sweats, weight loss, swelling, and fevers can be signs of untreated non-lymphoma. Hodgkin’s However, Dr. Matasar said that some types of lymphoma have no symptoms and are found “accidentally” when tests are done for other reasons.
Dr. Dahut said that how bad the illness depends on where the lymphoma starts. If the problem starts in the brain, the outlook is not as good. If it’s only in one lymph node, the outcome is better. When it comes to older people, underlying health problems can make it harder for them to respond to chemotherapy. But, he said, “some people have a very, very good outlook.”
Fonda wrote in her post, “I’ve been getting chemo for six months and am doing pretty well with it. I’m not going to let any of this stop me from fighting for the environment.”
Matt Stevens is based in New York and writes about arts and culture for The Times. He used to write about politics and breaking news on a national level. @ByMattStevens
Dani Blum works for The Times as a writer for Well.
