Milestones for cancer survivors can be so much more meaningful. Olivia Newton-John, 71, celebrated her 12th anniversary, sharing a photo of her wedding to John Easterling, 68, on Instagram. “Seems like yesterday I married the man of my dreams in Peru on the winter solstice 12 wonderful years ago! Happy Anniversary my darling @therealamazonjohn,” said Newton-John who is living — and, she says, “thriving” –with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.
Read MoreNewton-John was first diagnosed with cancer in 1992. At the time, she underwent a mastectomy and nine months of chemotherapy to become cancer-free. Her first marriage, to actor and dancer, Matta Lattanzi, ended three years after her first diagnosis.
RELATED: Olivia Newton-John Keeps it Positive as She Fights Incurable Cancer
She was diagnosed with breast cancer again in 2014. Then in September 2018, she announced a recurrence: this time, the stage 4 breast cancer had spread to her spine.
Integrating Cannabis
Newton-John has been public about her use of legally-grown medical marijuana and cannabis products, including tinctures, to ease the pain and stress associated with her advanced breast cancer.
Dr. Brian Berman, Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, explains how integrative methods can help ease some of the side effects of cancer treatment.
"Opiates kill people. Cannabis doesn't; it does amazing things. It helps me with the pain, the anxiety, the sleeplessness … " she told a British newspaper in 2019.
RELATED: Understanding How Medical Marijuana Alleviates Pain
But she also makes clear that she remains dedicated to conventional cancer treatment under the care of licensed oncologists for her breast cancer. This combined use of therapies is known as integrative medicine.
During Dark Days: Love & Light
Newton-John has been an uplifting presence on social media during the recent months of quarantine, raising her voice to celebrate Pride Month, support the patients at her Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne, share the Pandemic Action Network’s “Masking For A Friend” mask initiative, and expressing love and gratitute “to those of you who have asked who I am.”
Dr. Sylvia Adams,a medical oncologist at NYU Perlmutter Cancer Center, on breast cancer and immunotherapy
“I send my love to those of you who are confined, and isolated, and away from those you love. Just remember though that this is all for a reason, to flatten the curve, and this too will pass. And please all of you stay safe and wash your hands and don’t touch your nose, eyes, or mouth because this is the way that it transfers,” she said in a recent Instagram video.
She added, “And please all remember that this time as a very special time on our planet when we are all going through the same thing at the same time. Which really makes us realize how truly connected we all are …. Take care of yourselves. Love and Light.”
Grateful for the Hours
Newton-John’s cancer journey serves as an inspiration to others in the cancer community who are facing an incurable diagnosis.
“I think that this journey has increased my gratitude,” she told SurvivorNet in an interview, “really, because when you've had cancer a few times, and you don't know the outcome, you're just grateful for the moments you're having, or the days you're having, or the hours you're having.”
“I think it's also made me more accepting of anything. This too will pass. I will get to the other side, and I intend to live for a much longer time, even though if you ask for the diagnosis and you have stage IV breast cancer that's metastasized to your bones, you could paint a pretty ugly picture. But I'm painting a good one. I feel really good.”
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