SHE has now been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and has battled the disease for 28 years – but Olivia Newton-John describes her diagnosis as a “gift”.
The disease has spread to her bones and less than two years ago she was bedridden with a fractured pelvis and hip.
But the Aussie singer and actress says she is now thriving after medicinal cannabis has given her an “astonishing” recovery.
Olivia, who is backing our Get Checked breast cancer campaign, urges women who are worried they may have the disease to see their doctors.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday the Grease legend, 71, said: “I know it’s scary to go to the doctor, but it’s better to know than to not know. It’s important to do a monthly self-exam to notice any changes or lumps. Early detection is always best.
“My focus and purpose is continuing to find answers to treating cancer and helping others who are on that journey.
“So as strange as it may sound, I consider it a gift. I have learned so much and met some extraordinary women.”
Charities, including CoppaFeel! and Breast Cancer Now, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock, have warned that thousands of women have delayed seeing their GP during the pandemic.
Avoidable deaths this year from all forms of cancer could reach 35,000 — almost as many as the Covid toll — unless patients, GPs and hospitals all respond quickly.
There were just 7,130 urgent breast cancer referrals during April and May, compared with 32,555 for the same months last year.
Olivia said: “I encourage self- examination first, as my original mammogram in 1992 didn’t show anything and my hand did — only with ultrasound was it discovered.
“So I say to women, trust your instincts. I think we know when something is wrong.”
Four-time Grammy winner Olivia has sold 100million records in a career lasting more than 50 years.
She was made a Dame this year for her services to charity, cancer research and entertainment.
Since her breast cancer diagnosis she has split her time between her music and raising global awareness of cancer.
At the research centre that bears her name, in Melbourne, experts hope to “outsmart” cancer.
Olivia said: “Had I not experienced it, I would never have lent my name to a cancer centre, the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre.”
Olivia found the lump in her breast when she was 42.
She had six months of treatment, including a partial mastectomy and chemotherapy.
The illness returned in 2013 and she had further treatment involving hormone therapy, then went into remission again.
However, when it returned a third time, doctors said her breast cancer was stage four — the highest category — and had spread to her bones and caused fractures.
After completing her 2018 annual Wellness Walk and Research Run in Melbourne with husband John Easterling, she was struck down in agony.
John, 68, a producer and plant medicine researcher, said: “The next day we went to the hospital and said, ‘Why all this pain in her hip and in her pelvis?’ It was a fractured hip, which is part of the progression — it’s a metastatic.
“Her issue is a stage four, metastatic breast cancer. It’s metastasised to bone and this is her third recurrence of that. Fortunately we were at the Institute so just checked in right there. She was in hospital, flat on her back for a month while that was healing.
“They were suggesting a couple of spots of radiation on the areas there. She chose to do that and also an oestrogen blocker as it’s an oestrogen-positive breast cancer.
“After a month she was released and we went back to California. She was in a wheelchair and then a walker, bent over, taking baby steps, lost weight, it was quite an ordeal.”
Through his business, John created medicinal cannabis drops for his wife on their ranch in California — which they credit with her recovery.
He said: “The pain went down, the mobility started to increase and over four months she got completely off all the opioids, completely off the morphine, 100 per cent of any pain killers at all — zero.
“Over a seven-month period the mobility is pretty much all the way back. She’s up, she’s walking, she goes down and feeds the horses, walks all the way round the ranch, drives around, visits her friends, does everything.
“I expected something good to happen. It’s been beyond good. She’s doing astonishingly well.”
Urging women — and men — to get checked out, Olivia said: “I am a breast cancer survivor of 28 years but I feel wonderful. I’m doing really well. Early detection is key. Please stay safe.”
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