Jane Fonda has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The 84-year-old actor shared the news on Instagram on Sept. 2, revealing that she has started chemotherapy treatment.
“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,” Fonda began. “This is a very treatable cancer. 80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky.”
She added that she is also "lucky" because she has 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,” she said, adding that people need to talk more about what causes cancer “so we can eliminate them. For example, people need to know that fossil fuels cause cancer. So do pesticides, many of which are fossil fuel-based, like mine.”
Fonda continued by sharing that she will be doing chemo for six months and at this time has been “handling the treatments quite well and, believe me, I will not let any of this interfere with my climate activism.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a type of cancer “that begins in your lymphatic system, which is part of the body’s germ-fighting immune system. In non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, white blood cells called lymphocytes grow abnormally and can form growths (tumors) throughout the body.”
Treatments and detecting the diagnosis early “have helped improve the prognosis for people with this disease,” per the site.
In her lengthy post, Fonda noted that cancer has been a teacher for her and she’s “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,” she added.
The actor — known for her activism and fighting for women's rights and climate change — said that her diagnosis will not keep her 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.”
She concluded her message by writing, “The midterms are looming, and they are beyond consequential so you can count on me to be right there together with you as we grow our army of climate champions.”
In 2010, Fonda discovered that she had breast cancer, but fortunately doctors were able to remove the tumor before it could spread. Back in 2018, the “Grace and Frankie” star revealed that she had a cancerous growth removed from her lower lip.
In May of this year, she opened up and reflected in an interview with Glamour about what she calls her “final act” in life.
“When I was about to turn 60, I realized that I was approaching my third act — my final act — and that it wasn’t a dress rehearsal,” she told “Grown-ish” star Yara Shahidi, who conducted the interview. “One of the things that I knew for sure is that I didn’t want to get to the end with a lot of regrets, so how I lived up until the end was what was going to determine whether or not I had regrets.”
With already a successful Hollywood career, she turned her efforts into activism.
“It totally changed the way I thought about myself and about how I wanted to live the last third of my life,” she said. “And I realized the importance of being intentional about how we go through life.”
She also noted that as she’s gotten older, she realized “that staying healthy is joyful and critical because age isn’t so much chronology.”