So sad to see that Lynn Redgrave has also died from this s****y disease at 67.
Unfortunately it shows that BC is no respector of fame or fortune, Lynn Redgrave always struck me as being the best of the Redgrave clan, a nice human being as well as a good actress.
Very sad news, it never ends… our thoughts are with her family
at this very sad time,
Sandra
I was quite distressed when I saw the photos of her brother Corin’s funeral a few weeks back. She looked so very frail and old I figured she did not have long. I remember reading an interview with her when she spoke about breast cancer (I think she had a mastectomy) and she was one of those actresses who had just gone off and dealt with it quietly. 67 - no real age is it, when you see people living well into their 90s. As a family, they have had a lot of suffering this past year, what with Natasha’s death too. 30 years ago I had 4 members of my own family die within about 6 months (my gran, an uncle and my mum all within 6 weeks of each other) and it was like a never ending round of funerals, very difficult to deal with.
I also remember Jill Ireland’s struggle and death from BC back in the late 80s, she was one of the first to write a book on her experiences I think (it was called Life Wish).
I loved her work - a very underrated member of the dynasty I think.
youtube.com/watch?v=qapF-7lh_NU
When she was first diagnosed in 2003 her daughter Annabel Clark chronicled her treatment in a book of photos. It is really worth looking at.
Lynn was always very honest about her fear and about her treatment. She didn’t call having cancer a “battle” she called it a journey.
Vanessa Redgrave has lost her daughter Natasha, her brother Corin and her sister Lynn in the space of a year.
Life is cruel. God I hate this disease.
I always thought she was going to be one of the success stories and then I spotted her at Corin’s funeral with a chemo scarf on - as you say Cherub she was hardly recognisable - she looked terribly ill.
When you consider that she , and many others who have gone before her , could afford the very best of treatment , that I actually find scary .
nytimes.com/slideshow/2004/04/15/magazine/20040418_REDGRAVE_1.html
This is an incredibly powerful slideshow featuring images from her treatment. Be warned - there is nothing airbrushed about it. Very powerful and moving images.
Msmolly, thank you for sharing that slideshow - very moving images indeed.
I am thinking of her family at this sad, sad time.
She xx
I too have felt really sad at hearing about Lynn Redgrave as I had admired her work since Georgy Girl. I have just been reading an interview she gave the NY Times last Oct when she had a show opening there. It said that she had been Stage 4 for four years. Because of treatment side effects they had changed the format of the play so she could sit down behind a desk and read her script. She was obviously determined to travel her “journey” in her own way and one that fills me with admiration.
I hope she is now at peace.
Joss
Boy, was that slideshow moving… the combination of photos and her own narrative. What grace and dignity.
thanks msmolly
It is powerful stuff isn’t it? Bit of an antidote to a lot of the glossy coverage we get of famous women with BC.
I think the most moving image is actually the doodle the surgeon has done on the back of her notes to illustrate how cancer spreads to the nodes. Heartbreaking.
Joss I read that interview too - incredible that she kept on working till the end. I wish I had been able to see those one-woman shows.
thanks for posting that slideshow - wow ! I was very sad to hear of her death - she handled her cancer with great dignity. RIP
Thank you for posting the link to that moving slideshow, msmolly. So much more powerful than the glossy coverage we usually get.
Eliza
This is such sad news.
When I was dx early in 2008, I bought three books: the first was Breast Cancer for Dummies, the second was Take Off Your Party Dress by the late Dina Rabinovitch, and the third was Journal, the photographic narrative produced by Lynn and her daughter Annabel. I haven’t looked at the Dummies book since my treatment finished, but I return to the other books time and again, not to read from beginning to end, but remembering a phrase or a paragraph that articulates what I might be feeling. Lynn (and Dina) died much, much too young. We are richer for women like them who can tell it like it is, yet with warmth and humour evident through the pain and fear.
RIP Lynn and heartfelt sympathy to her family.
I wonder what grade it started off at? Please don’t say it was a grade 2 and only in one node.
She looks very tired and unwell in the photo of her prior to diagnosis, but I believe she was also going through a very stressful time with her marriage breaking up.
Steph, all cancers behave differently, so if you have the same diagnosis as another patient it doesn’t necessarily mean the same outcome.
^ Maybe but I can’t help comparing.
She doesn’t look overweight. Obviously not a causative factor for her then.
I think Lynn Redgrave had quite a large lump and significant node involvement by the time she was diagnosed. She was diagnosed with secondaries about 3 years after her initial dx. No idea of HER2/ER status.
None of our cancers follow a pattern Steph. There are plenty of women with extensive node involvement who are fine and then there are plenty of women with negative nodes who have mets.
All manner of things increase risk of BC - it is not just about one issue. LR did have a lot of weight problems throughout her life and I believe she ended up doing some work for weight watchers. Whether it contributed to her diagnosis we will never know - and it doesn’t really matter now anyway.
Palomino - the Dina Rabinovitch book was terribly hard to read as I wasn’t aware she had already passed away when I bought it. I remember Googling her name once I’d read it and all these obituaries popped up. Awful.
I always loved the film Georgie Girl and was very sadened to her of Lynn’s death. I cannot see the link between being overweight and developing breast cancer. When I was being treated for bc in Sept 08 I noticed that not one of the women who attended the radiotherpay clinic over an 8 week period were overweight, If anything they were all very slim. I can think of at least 10 celebs who have developed bc and are not oveerweight.
I am afraid that the link between obesity and breast cancer is proven and accepted.
Not all smokers get lung cancer but smoking increases risk.
Being overweight does not mean you will definitely get bc - in the same way that being slim does not entirely protect you from it. But being fat does increase your risk of developing bc - along with a variety of other factors.
It really helps to try and get your head round the concept of medical risk - someone explains it brilliantly - I think it is cancer backup - I will try to find a link later. Pushed for time now!
There is a really good book - Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book. it explains everything and has a whole chapter on risk.
E xx