Shannen Doherty recently sat down for an interview with Entertainment Tonight to give an update on her battle with cancer. She is quoted as follows:
"I had breast cancer that spread to the lymph nodes, and from one of my surgeries we discovered that some of the cancer cells might have actually gone out of the lymph nodes. So for that reason, we are doing chemo, and then after chemo, I'll do radiation. The unknown is always the scariest par. Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work? You know, am I going to have to go through this again, or am I going to get secondary cancer? Everything else is manageable. Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, it's the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love."
On undergoing her mastectomy:
"[My doctor] didn't want me to wake up with absolutely nothing. It was very important to him that I didn't have that experience, and so, he put an expander in, so I have a tiny something there. It's cute and sometimes we fill it up and make it bigger, and sometimes we reduce it. I'm being so personal right now. But I think a lot of women can probably go, 'Yeah, I've been through that.' It's great though, you get to pick out what size you want."
On going bra shopping for the first time after surgery:
"It was traumatic and horrible, and I didn't think anything of it at the time, then my mom went with me and I broke down crying in the dressing room and ran out. And then sat in the car crying."
On shaving her head:
"After my second treatment, my hair was really matted, like in dreadlocks. And I went to try and brush it out, and it just fell out. I just remember holding onto huge clumps of my hair in my hands, and just running to my mom crying, like, 'My hair, my hair, my hair, my hair.' It was just shedding and it was driving me crazy. It was just clumps, and I was like, 'Just grab the kitchen scissors.' And my mom's like, 'Wait, wait, wait.' I'm just, like, 'Grab it.' She went and grabbed the kitchen scissors, and put it in a ponytail and she just chopped it off. And it was this cute little bob, but it wasn't enough, you know, it was falling out. We did stages. We did a pixie. And then we did a mohawk, which was my favorite look. And then finally, we had to get the shaver thing and just buzz it off."
On chemo:
"I am in bed and it is a rush to the bathroom. It's, you know, you're throwing up every single second. After my first treatment I lost 10 pounds, instantly. You're throwing up and the last thing you want to do is be in a car. You don't want to be moved, you can't eat. But my husband has to, you know, pick me up. He puts me in the car, he buckles me in, and he drives me to my oncologist and they hook me up to an IV and I get hydrated. ... There's nothing going in my body, it's all going out."
On why she went public with her diagnosis:
"People don't realize that cancer -- yes, it ages you -- but also, you can balloon up from the various meds. There are so many different reactions you have and so I just -- I didn't want someone to take a picture of me coming out of the grocery store and be like, 'Oh God, look at her.' I wanted to put it out there the way it felt the best for me to put it out there. And also, if I could help one person then it makes me go, 'Oh OK.' It's easier to live with having cancer if I know I'm helping at least one person."
Wishing Shannen all the best in her fight against cancer. Hoping she pretends it's Dean Factor and beats the crap out of it!
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