Olivia reaches out to Belinda
Waging her celebrity anti-cancer crusade, Olivia sends the young star a message of hope
A radiant-looking Olivia Newton-John had her hands full recently, hosting a star-studded picnic and poetry reading in L.A. It was to help raise funds for a cause very dear to Olivia’s heart protecting children’s health against environment tox-ins and pollutants.
But Olivia wasn’t too busy to send a message of support to a sick friend back in Australia. She had just heard the distressing news that 24-year-old soap star Belinda Emmett, from Home And Away, was facing breast surgery to remove a malignant lump.
Olivia rushed off her words of sympathy to Belinda and she offers some good advice to the young star.
“I think Belinda should do all that she can as far as treatment is concerned,”
Olivia says. “It’s important to keep a positive attitude. Belinda should do meditation and prayer, and try alternative therapies as well as the chemo to help support her im-mune system. And maybe she should see a really good holistic doctor who can give her herbal treatments as well.
“Obviously, she’ll get the best advice from her doctors, so I’m just understanding offering my love and my of what it’s like. It’s very scary.”
“Belinda can talk to me at any time -she just has to call!”
Belinda knew she had a small lump for two years before she sought medical help. She overlooked the danger for so long because she had no family history of cancer. The young star also found it hard to believe she could develop breast cancer at such a tender age.
But, as Olivia points out, early detection of the disease which can strike women of all ages is vital. That’s what’s really alarming,” she says, ‘that breast cancer is so rampant on our planet. No matter what your age, if you find a lump, you don’t ignore it. There’s really no point in asking. “Why me?” any more because the causes are in the environment.”
Olivia’s career may be back in full swing with her new album Back With A Heart and the re-release of Grease but she has not retreated from fighting the killer disease that has brought such tragedy to her life. Her best friends of 27 years, Nancy and Jim Chuda, lost their five-year-old daughter Colette who was also Olivia’s goddaughter to a rare cancer in 1991. Colette and Olivia’s daughter Chloe, born six weeks apart, were best friends. Olivia has since lost her own father to cancer and survived breast cancer herself.
Helping CHEC - an organisation founded by the Chudas to research links between environ-mental pollutants and childhood illnesses - is a big part of Olivia’s war against killer diseases.
At the celebrity poetry reading. Olivia’s old friend John Travolta drew thunderous applause when he asked: ‘Would you like to hear the poem I wrote when I was 10? The only poem I ever wrote in my life? It goes, “Rain falls to the ground when little worms fool around”. I got an A-plus!”
When the laughter subsided, Olivia read a poem and so did Chloe, now 12. John’s wife, actress Kelly Preston, read a poem written by a cancer-stricken child and other readers included NewsRadio’s Phil Hartman, Veronica’s Closet star Wallace Langham, actress Linda Hamilton, 11-year-old Jack Johnson (Will Robinson of Lost In Space) and ex-Neighbours star Eliza Szonert.
Olivia has even carried her fight into her own now totally toxic-free Malibu house and says there are many cheap ways to make vital lifestyle changes. “I now only use products that are environmentally friendly.”
Kelly and John’s son Jett is now five, and Kelly agrees that everyone must get involved. “Our home is toxin-free, too,” she says. “We also eat organically. I’m making an effort against toxins for my son, and for everyone. It’s our planet and we’re killing it!”
The issues really hit home for Terminator star Linda Hamilton, who recently separated from her Titanic director husband James Cameron. Her son Dalton, now eight, became ill from asthma at age three. ‘Asthma in L.A. harms so many kids because of the en-vironmental pollutants, Linda says.
Since moving from Melbourne to LA, Eliza Szonert has also taken up the cause. She says: ‘I do everything I can. I don’t wash my clothes until I have enough, and don’t waste water. I get in trouble for that-going to the bathroom and not flushing the toilet enough!”
By Sue Russell