If there’s one thing that can be said about Australia’s sweetheart Olivia Newton-John, it’s that she was selfless, even in her final days.
In a recent interview with The Herald Sun, the late actress’s husband, John Easterling, shared his wife’s dying wish before she lost her battle with breast cancer in August.
The 70-year-old told the news outlet that his wife recognised the privileged position she had in being able to access alternative cancer treatments and wanted to provide equal opportunity to others affected by the disease to explore the same treatments.
“Her dream with the Olivia Newton-John Wellness Centre was to have Australians going through cancer have access to similar types of treatments,” Easterling said, before explaining that treatments like medical cannabis “undoubtedly extended Olivia’s life and gave her quality of life.”
Easterling claimed it was because of these alternative treatments that Newton-John was able to have a “cheerful and joyful and pain-free” way to cope with her terminal illness.
After being initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, Newton-John opted out of using “toxic chemicals or addictive painkillers,” choosing herbal formulas and meditation instead.
It was her own journey for holistic cancer treatments that inspired Newton-John to open her Centre in Melbourne and the Oliva Newton-John Foundation Fund, an independent charity that aids in the global research of plant-based medicine for cancer.
Prior to her death, Newton-John publicly advocated for alternative medicine and would often lobby for politicians to change regulations on medical cannabis, aiming to have the treatment available for patients at her Wellness Centre.
According to Hello, the Grease star had once called her Wellness Centre her “dream,” saying she was “thrilled” to have been able to build “a place that supports the people” who are going through cancer.
Speaking to Hello, actress Jane Seymour said: “I feel that she made a huge difference in the world as an advocate for how to handle cancer and she really cared about so many other people. She would go out of her way to help those that needed help.”
Sharing the same sentiments was Danni Minogue, who also told the publication that after Newton-John had passed “apart from her daughter, the hospital is the thing Olivia is most proud of doing.”
Newton-John’s dying wish has certainly not fallen on deaf ears, as her daughter Chloe Lattanzi has vowed to “carry the torch” for her mum to find holistic treatments to “put an end to all the suffering cancer causes for countless beings around the planet.”
Lattanzi is now officially working alongside her cousin Tottie Goldsmith, who is a goodwill ambassador for the treatment centre, and the expert specialists to continue to provide access to world-class treatments for Australians battling cancer.