William Shatner & Daughter Melanie Battled Stage 4 Cancer at the Same Time - Just Jared - Celebrity News and Gossip
MoviesHub
William Shatner and Melanie Shatner are opening up about a shared medical experience.
The 95-year-old Star Trek alum and his 61-year-old daughter got candid in a new interview with People about both battling cancer at the same time years ago.
Melanie had been getting treated for stage 4 breast cancer in June 2023 when William was diagnosed with stage 4 malignant melanoma, which spread to his lungs and brain.
“I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,’” Melanie reflected.
She had initially found the lump in her breast by chance in July 2022, recalling: “I woke up in the middle of the night, and my finger moved up right beneath my breast. I felt a little bump and thought, ‘It’s just a bug bite.'”
Testing later resulted in a positive breast cancer diagnosis, and they found it had spread to lymph nodes in her chest. Treatment included multiple rounds of chemo, a double mastectomy, and 30 radiation therapy treatments.
“Chemo was the most physically draining, and the radiation I found so emotionally draining,” she said.
Mid-treatment, her dad William found a lump on his cheek.
“I went to the family doctor, and he said, ‘It’s your salivary gland. It’s blocked. Just massage it,'” William recalled.
A plastic surgeon friend disagreed after checking out the growing lump: “He placed his hands on my cheeks, and he said with love in his voice, ‘You better get this out.’”
William had the tumor removed, followed by two years of immunotherapy to target the cancer in his lungs and brain.
“They said, ‘You got cancer. If you came in later, you would have been dead.’ See? That’s my life. I think the universe is taking care of me,” William said of his own diagnosis.
Happily, both of them are cancer-free today.
“I’m thinking of the miracle of a hummingbird, and of my dog taking a ball, and my children. I’m aware of the magic of it all,” William said of embracing life today.
William Shatner had actually reacted to rumors that he had brain cancer just a few months ago.
The two will be launching a new weekly podcast, called No Time but Now, to have discussions with health experts and other cancer survivors.
“It’s easy for us in this lovely home to say, ‘Make your life meaningful.’ It’s much more difficult to be poverty-stricken and wonder how you’re going to get through it. I’ve been there. But it’s also possible to endure that and be aware of the beauty around you,” William said of the endeavor.
“[Overcoming cancer] changed my life. I’m not so afraid anymore, and there’s so much freedom and joy,” Melanie added.
Find out more about their new podcast and what treatment they received at People.
Raisin Bran‘s Super Bowl commercial basically explains why the acting icon was spotted eating a bowl of cereal in his car.
Posted To:Melanie Shatner William Shatner
＼ Get the latest news ／
