This 1980s TV star looks very different now that she’s taken a break from fame after a tragedy.
Tracy Nelson had three different kinds of cancer. She played Sister Stephanie on Father Dowling Mysteries.
It was terrible that the actress was told she had stage two Hodgkin’s lymphoma just one month after getting married to William R. Moses in 1987.
As a cruel irony, her famous musician father Ricky Nelson died in an airplane crash on New Year’s Eve, a year before she was diagnosed.
In 1985, the plane crashed in a Texas field.
She was no longer sick after surgery and had radiation and chemotherapy in Los Angeles.
She beat the disease, but in 2005, after being hurt by radiation, she was told she had thyroid cancer.
After five years, she was told she had breast cancer and had both mastectomy and full reconstruction.
She stopped being in the spotlight and now works to support cancer research. She used to be the spokesperson for The Lymphoma Research Foundation of America.
Tracy, 61, received the “Lifesaver Award” from the group and the “Jill Ireland Award” from the Amie Karen Cancer Fund for Children.
After ten years of marriage, she and William broke up in 1997.
Remington Elizabeth Moses is their daughter together. In 2001, she had a son named Elijah Nelson Clark with Chris Clark.
Tracy began her career when she was four years old. She was born into a family of actors and performers.
She played a daughter of Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball in the 1968 movie Yours, Mine, and Ours.
A actress named Kristin Nelson gave birth to Tracy in Santa Monica. She has three younger siblings named Matthew, Gunnar, and Sam.
Noah Matthew and Gunnar formed the rock band Nelson in 1990.
Following her role as Jennifer in Square Pegs, she was cast as the binge-eating daughter in Down and Out in Beverly Hills.
She also had a part in the TV show The Father Dowling Mysteries for three seasons as Sister Stephanie.
On Aaron Spelling’s shows Glitter, A League of Their Own, and The Man from Snowy River, she played a regular role.
Tracy has also written a book called The Nelsons, which is about her family and life.