The Travolta Family's New Addition
- On Instagram, actor John Travolta, 67, shared that his son Ben has a new cat.
- The Travolta family tragically lost wife and mother Kelly Preston to breast cancer last year.
- Finding small moments of joy after cancer-related grief is possible.
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Kelly’s Cancer Journey
Travolta’s wife and Ben’s mom, Kelly Preston, passed away from breast cancer last year, after a private two-year battle with the disease, which ended in July 2020. The actress passed at the too-young age of 57.
Related: Treatment for Early Stage Triple-Negative Breast Cancer
While we don't know the specifics of Preston's treatment, we do know that breast cancer is typically treated with chemotherapy, radiation or surgery. After she passed, Travolta thanked doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. "My family and I will forever be grateful to her doctors and nurses at MD Anderson Cancer Center, all the medical centers that have helped, as well as her many friends and loved ones who have been by her side," he said.
Introduction to Early-Stage Breast Cancer
Finding Joy After Loss
Finding moments of joy after losing a loved one to cancer can be incredibly difficult, so we’re happy to see the Travolta family smiling about the new addition to their family.
Keeping a positive outlook through the cancer journey, whether you’re the partner of someone recently diagnosed, or you have been diagnosed, can help, experts tell SurvivorNet. Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai says in an earlier interview, “My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they’re diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK.”
“Now doesn’t that mean I’m good at saying that the cancer won’t grow,” says Dr. Murrell. “But I’m pretty good at telling what kind of patients are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life.”
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