Jeff Bridgeshas a lot to celebrate these days. He has a new grandson, a new puppy, a new show and will be celebrating his 45th wedding anniversary towife Susanon June 5. But these days, the Oscar winner is simply grateful to be alive after herecently survived non-Hodgkin lymphoma(a cancer of the lymphatic system) and nearly died of COVID.
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Jeff Lipsky
But in January 2021 his health took a turn for the worse whenhe contracted COVID(the vaccine wasn’t yet available). The chemo treatment had weakened his immune system and the virus hit him hard.
“I had no defenses. That’s what chemo does — it strips you of all your immune system. I had nothing to fight it,” he says. “COVID made my cancer look like nothing.”
He spent almost five months in the hospital where he was in extreme pain and couldn’t roll over in bed without calling the nurse to help him with oxygen. “I was pretty close to dying. The doctors kept telling me, ‘Jeff, you’ve got to fight. You’re not fighting.’ I was in surrender mode. I was ready to go. I was dancing with my mortality,” he says.
Luckily, Bridges began to see improvements after the medical team gave him convalescent plasma (a therapy that uses blood from people who’ve recovered from an illness to help others recover.)
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Jeff Bridges in The Old Man.Kurt Iswarienko/FX
Bridges is now in remission and thrilled to be back at work on his upcoming drama,The Old Man, costarringJohn LithgowandAmy Brenneman. “As the show started getting into shape, I said, ‘Oh, we are coming up with something really cool here,’ " says Bridges.
He’s also happy to be able to continue his philanthropic work with the nonprofit organizationsNo Kid Hungryand theAmazon Conservation Teamas well as helping create guitars using sustainable wood withBreedlove Guitars.
But his biggest joy comes fromspending time with his wifeand their three daughters and three grandkids — whom he says he appreciates even more after his harrowing health crisis.
“Who would say, ‘I’d love some cancer and give me a dose of COVID? But my ability to receive all the love and give it was just heightened,” he says. “Everything was turned up in the most beautiful way.”
The Old Man airs June 16 on FX
source: people.com
