EIGHTIES TV star looks completely different after stepping away from fame after she was struck by tragedy.
Tracy Nelson, who starred as Sister Stephanie in Father Dowling Mysteries, battled three types of cancer.
The actress was tragically diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma just one month after she married William R. Moses in 1987.
In a heartbreaking twist of fate, a year before her diagnosis, her famous musician father Ricky Nelson was killed in an aeroplane crash on New Years Eve.
The plane went down in a field in Texas in 1985.
She went into remission after surgery and had chemotherapy and radiation in Los Angeles.
After beating the disease, she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2005 after suffering trauma from radiation.
Five years later she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a bilateral mastectomy and complete reconstruction.
Stepping away from the limelight, she is now involved in cancer research advocacy and was the spokesperson for The Lymphoma Research Foundation of America.
Tracy, 61, was given the “Lifesaver Award” from the organisation, as well as the Jill Ireland Award from the Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children.
She split from William in 1997, after ten years of marriage.
The former couple share a daughter, Remington Elizabeth Moses. She also had a son Elijah Nelson Clark, with Chris Clark in 2001.
After being born into a family of actors and performers, Tracy’s career started when she was just four years old.
She played one of Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball’s daughters in Yours, Mine and Ours in 1968.
Tracy was born in Santa Monica to actress Kristin Nelson and has three younger siblings Matthew, Gunnar and Sam.
Matthew and Gunnar formed 1990 rock group Nelson.
After her role as Jennifer in Sqaure Pegs, she landed the role of the anorexic daughter in Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
She also co-starred in the television series The Father Dowling Mysteries as Sister Stephanie for three seasons.
She was also a series regular on Aaron Spelling’s Glitter, A League of Their Own and The Man from Snowy River.
Tracy has also written a book about her family and life titled The Nelsons.
