Life and I star Danielle Fishel announced that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The actress, who rose to fame as Topanga on the ’90s sitcom, shared the news on Monday’s episode of “Pod Meets World.” During the hour-long podcast episode, Fishel said the cancer was discovered after a routine mammogram.
“It’s still very, very early; technically, it’s stage zero. I’ve been diagnosed with high-grade DCIS with microinvasion, and I’m going to recover. I’m going to have surgery to remove it,” Fishel said during the hour-long podcast episode.
DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), according to the American Cancer Society, occurs when the cells lining the milk ducts of the breast have become cancerous but have not spread to the surrounding breast tissue. After learning of the life-threatening condition, Fishel planned to tell only her husband, Jensen Karp, and her immediate family, but then decided to make the news public.
“I always thought I would suffer in silence,” she said. “I got the diagnosis. I didn’t tell anyone, I only told my small group, and then I would just take it and when I got through it, I would tell people, ‘Here, I went through this journey and this is what I did.'”
Fishel explained that her regular mammogram appointments helped her catch the cancer at such an early stage. She said she made her appointment after receiving an automated text message prompting her to do so, and encouraged listeners to do the same. “Go,” she said. “If you need to find out you have cancer, find out when it’s stage zero.”
Fishel added that she still has “big decisions” to make and plans to meet with oncologists, radiation specialists and hormone specialists, which could impact the scheduling of future podcast episodes. “Pod Meets World” co-hosts Rider Strong and Will Friedle were among the first people Fishel told about her diagnosis.
“It seems to be more productive,” said Friedle, her former Life and I co-star said in response to her news. “It seems to be everywhere, including for men, prostate exams, colonoscopies. These are all things that are super important, so don’t put them off. We’re so glad you didn’t do that. You’re going to be OK, and you might have a few crappy days ahead of you, but we’re here for you.”
