Boy Meets World alum Danielle Fishel has revealed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer, but thankfully, the doctors caught it “very, very, very early.”
The 43-year-old actress opened up about the news on the latest episode of her Pod Meets World podcast, where she said, “I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for Ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer. It’s very, very, very early, it’s technically stage zero.”
Fishel added that her specific diagnosis is “high-grade DCIS with micro-invasion” and she plans to have surgery to remove the cancerous cells.
According to the Mayo Clinic, DCIS is when “the cancer cells are confined inside a milk duct in the breast. The cancer cells haven’t spread into the breast tissue” and “is usually found during a mammogram done as part of breast cancer screening or to investigate a breast lump.”
“I’ve had to make a lot of decisions over the last couple of days,” Fishel continued, noting how she was only originally planning to tell close family and friends. She wanted to just “suck it up” and only tell others after she’d beaten it.
However, the podcast host said she changed her mind after reading a quote from the author Glennon Doyle about how women need to help others in the beginning stages and the “messy middle” rather than waiting until the experience is at the end or over.
Fishel, who explained doctors caught it during her annual mammogram, added, “They found it so, so, so early that I’m going to be fine. So, I want to share this because I hope that it will encourage anyone to get in there. If it’s time for your appointment, if you’ve never had an appointment before, get in there. If you have to find out that you have cancer, find out when it’s at stage 0, if possible.”
RelatedFormer ‘Dancing With the Stars’ host Samantha Harris diagnosed with breast cancer
As for what’s next, Fishel assured her listeners that she was going to be fine and would be meeting with doctors, including oncologists, radiation specialists, and hormone therapists.
Her former Boy Meets World co-stars and podcast co-hosts Rider Strong and Will Friedle were two of the first people Fishel shared the news with after telling her family.
Friedle told Fishel, “We love you, and you know that we’ve got you. Whatever you need, we’re here. You are going to be fine, and you might have some sucky days coming up, but we’re here for you.”
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