Emotional Bradley Cooper gives speech about dad's death
Bradley Cooper struggled to control his emotions as he recalled his father's battle with cancer in an emotional speech.
The 41-year-old actor was just one of the stars at the Parker Foundation's launch of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, hosted at founder Sean Parker's home in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (13Apr16).
Bradley took to the stage at the gala in front of fellow stars
including Katy Perry and beau Orlando Bloom, John Legend and Sean
Penn to speak about his hopes for the foundation going forward.
And his father Charles, who died in 2011 after battling lung
cancer, took center stage in his speech.
"I just want to tell you about my father Charles J. Cooper, he
passed away from lung cancer in 2011," Bradley said. "I was in a
very lucky position because I was able to put everything on hold in
all aspects of my life and completely focus on taking care of
him."
Despite his fame and fortune, Bradley admitted the resources at his
disposal didn't stop the treatment for his father's cancer being
"just simply overwhelming, incredibly stressful, complex and all
consuming."
He added: "I can't even imagine how much more difficult it is for
those patients and the families that are less fortunate than I was
that simply can't afford to pay for both treatment and rent."
Bradley and Sean are now planning to launch a new initiative in the
next few months to help families struggling to pay for the
treatments. And it's something the actor 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," he said.
Bradley continued in his speech to reference the case of Emily
Whitehead, who was just five years old when she was diagnosed with
leukemia.
After doctors tried various treatments with no success, her parents
decided to enroll Emily in one of the Children's Hospital of
Philadelphia's experimental treatment programs.
She has now been in remission since 2012, and Bradley praised her
bravery in going forward with a treatment that had never previously
been tested on a child.
"She was so brave to take this risk and in the years to come it is
with the Parker Institute wants to offer every patient and their
family more chances to try ground breaking treatments that will
help them live a full and healthy life like Emily," Bradley
concluded.