Boy Meets World star Danielle Fishel reveals that she has breast cancer in a heartbreaking health update. The TV star shared the news with fans while appearing on the Pod Meets World.
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"I would like to share something with our listeners, something that Rider and Will were actually two of the first people I told the news to," Fishel said. "I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer."
Fortunately, Fishel said that doctors caught the cancer very early. She said that it technically was before it had progressed to Stage 1 or further. "It is very, very, very early," the actress continued. "It's technically stage zero. To be specific, I was diagnosed with high-grade DCIS with micro-invasion. And I'm going to be fine. I'm having surgery to remove it. I'm going to be on some follow-up treatment. I've had to make a lot of decisions over the last couple of days."
Initially, she explained that she didn't plan to reveal her diagnosis. However, Fishel realized that she could help others going through a similar situation.
Danielle Fishel Talks Cancer Diagnosis
"If you've ever had those thoughts in your life where someone close to you is diagnosed with cancer, somewhere in your mind you think, 'What would I do if this were me? What would I do in this situation?' " she said. "And for some reason, I had always thought I would suffer in silence. I would get the diagnosis — I would not tell anyone. I would only tell my small, small group. And then I would just suck it up. And then when I'm on the other side of it, then I would tell people."
Fishel said that she began to open up to learning more from others as she got older.
"And as I've gotten older, I have really tried to learn from the experiences of others," Fishel continued. "Because I don't think I did that enough when I was younger."
Fishel said that she only discovered her cancer in time because of her yearly mammogram.
"The only reason I caught this cancer when it is still stage zero is because the day I got my text message that my yearly mammogram had come up, I made the appointment. And the fact that I am good about going to my doctor's appointments, when truthfully, it would be so much easier with as busy as I am, to say, 'I don't have time for that.'"
"Instead," Fishel added, "I was like, 'Yeah, it's time. Got to make that appointment.' And they found it so, so, so early that I'm going to be fine."
