Danielle Fishel, who played Topanga Lawrence in the 1990s sitcom “Life and Me,” announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ. It’s a form of breast cancer,” the 43-year-old said in the Sunday episode of her podcast “Pod Meets World,” which she hosts with her former co-stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle.
Fishel explained that the diagnosis is still very early – she is at stage 0 – and that she will be fine. She also said that she will need to undergo surgery to remove the tumor and that she still has other important decisions to make about her future treatment.
Fishel said she credits a text message with discovering the cancer so early. When she received a text message reminder for her annual mammogram, she immediately scheduled the appointment instead of putting it off.
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“I want to share this because I hope it encourages everyone to go there,” Fishel said. “When it’s time for your appointment and you’ve never had an appointment, go there.”
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, DCIS affects the cells of the milk ducts in the breast and accounts for 20% of all breast cancers in the U.S. It can be treated with surgery and sometimes radiation and medications, but chemotherapy is not required.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, DCIS does not have specific symptoms such as lumps or breast pain, so most cases are diagnosed by mammogram, which usually shows up as new calcium deposits.
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Fishel said she always thought she would “suffer in silence” if she was ever diagnosed with something like cancer, but after seeing how helpful it can be, she decided to share her experience instead.
She said she learned from author Glennon Doyle that people tend to talk about problems after they’re over so they can present a beautiful picture and the end of the story. “But the most you can learn is in the beginning of a story or in the very messy middle of a story,” Fishel said.
