The 43-year-old actor reveals that his decision to team up with the Napster founder's Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy comes after losing his father to lung cancer in 2011.
- May 14, 2018
AceShowbiz - Bradley Cooper has become an advocate for patients at a cancer research institute headed by Sean Parker. The 43-year-old explained his decision to team up with the Napster founder's Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, which was launched by the Parker Foundation in 2016.
Cooper was overcome with emotion as he spoke of his sadness at losing his father Charles to lung cancer in 2011 at the Town & Country Philanthropy Summit in New York City earlier this week.
"You sit in this La-Z-Boy with the IV drip. As you're walking the hall, you see so many people that are alone. It's a horrific environment, and I just keep thinking how lucky my dad was that he had somebody like me to walk him through this horrible ordeal," the actor said as he explained his decision to want to help cancer patients and their families.
"I was desperate to find anything. It is beyond stressful when you are sitting in that room alone getting that diagnosis and then... where do you go from there? I realised that there is not a wealth of patient care out there for people... the level of loneliness that can overcome a person going through this," he added.
Cooper and Parker recently launched the new initiative to help families struggling to pay for cancer treatments, and "The Hangover" star said back in 2016 that it's something he feels very strongly about.
"My hope is that one day every person fighting cancer will receive the full support they need to maintain their quality of life from the day of diagnosis to the end of their treatment regardless of economic or social status," Cooper stressed.
