Jane Fonda has cancer — but in this climate, she says she’s got other things to worry about. On Friday, the Grace and Frankie actress shared that she has started chemotherapy after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “This is a very treatable cancer. 80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky,†she wrote on Instagram. “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.†Fonda, who will undergo chemo for six months, said that she’s handling the treatments “quite well.†Yet she also expressed a desire to shift focus away from cures to causes, noting that fossil fuels and fossil-fuel-based products are linked to cancer cases.
“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,†said Fonda, whose public protests against climate change have landed her (and her famous friends) in handcuffs multiple times. The actress and activist assured her followers that she will continue to build a community around her Fire Dill Fridays protests and find “new ways to use our collective strength to make change.†She ended her post with a reminder that the midterm elections are fast approaching. “They are beyond consequential,†she wrote, “so you can count on me to be right there together with you as we grow our army of climate champions.â€