However, Rita faced a significant challenge 10 years ago when she was diagnosed in 2015. During that time, she couldn’t help but notice the changes occurring in her body—and how they seemed to contradict each other.

“It was interesting to look at my body in that way and see it, understand what is missing,” she explained, “but also [see] what my body could do to keep me healing and healthy and have that appreciation.”

While the Now and Then star—mother to Chet Hanks, 35, and Truman Hanks, 30, with husband Tom Hanks—has been in remission for over a decade, she recently shared that early on she made plans in case the worst occurred.

“I said to Tom, I’m like, ‘OK, if something happens and I go first, I just have two requests. And one is that you should be sad for a very, very long time,'” Rita told Demi Moore at the Sounds of a Woman event in New York City on April 28, according to People.

“I want it to be a celebration of life,” she added. “I want it to be about people telling stories and joy and remembering me in that way. And I think people, a lot of people want that, you know? I think there’s room for that.”