Actress Jane Fonda announced Friday that she has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a treatable form of cancer of the lymphatic system, and that she will undergo six months of chemotherapy.
She wrote in “This is a very treatable cancer.” Posted on her Instagram. “I feel very lucky.”
Fonda, 84, is a high-fashioned star who’s been in for a long time Activist for social causesOn her Instagram post, she also wrote that she felt lucky to have health insurance as well as “access to the best doctors and treatments”.
“I realize, painfully, that I am fortunate in this,” she said. “Almost every family in America has had to deal with cancer at one time or another, and a lot of them don’t get the quality health care I receive and that just isn’t true.”
Fonda won two Academy Awards for her performances in “Klute” and “Coming Home”. She has also worked as a producer, documentarian, and activist. In 2019 it was Arrested several times After organizing protests in Washington to highlight the urgency of the climate crisis.
Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is the fifth most common type of cancer in America, said Dr. Matthew Matasar, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center who specializes in the disease. The Estimates from the National Cancer Institute That there will be more than 80,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma this year.
“There are actually more than 100 different types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” Dr. Matasar said, but the hallmark of the disease is that it develops in immune cells.
People who are 60 or older are more likely to develop non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and the earlier it is detected, the better chance a person has of surviving, said Dr. Leonidas Platanias, director of the Lowry Cancer Center at Northwestern Medicine.
While it’s unclear which type Ms. Fonda was diagnosed with, all types of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are treatable and some patients go into prolonged remission. “It’s not a death sentence,” said Dr. William Dahout, chief scientific officer of the American Cancer Society.
Symptoms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma can include pain, night sweats, weight loss, swelling and fever, although some types of lymphoma can be asymptomatic and are found “accidentally during tests for other purposes,” said Dr. Matasar.
Dr. Dahout said the severity of the disease depends on where the lymphoma originated. If it starts in the brain, the prognosis is worse. The results are better if it is localized to a lymph node. Underlying health issues may complicate a patient’s response to chemotherapy, especially for older adults. But, “some people have a very, very good prognosis,” he said.
In her post, Fonda wrote: “I’ve been doing chemotherapy for 6 months and are doing really well with the treatments, and believe me, I won’t allow any of this to interfere with my climatic activity.”
