When it comes to Shannen Doherty's battle with stage 4 cancer, the 52-year-old is trying to stay in a positive mindset. In her recent cover story interview for People, the Beverly Hills, 90210 actress opened up about her journey, even sharing straightforwardly, “I don’t want to die.”
Shannen was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. She had a mastectomy and received chemotherapy and radiation treatment. In 2017, she announced that she was in remission. However, in 2019, the cancer returned. In 2020, it was at stage 4.
Even though the journey has been long and hard, Shannen only wishes to continue fighting. In her interview, she shared that she still has a lot of life that she's not done living.
“I’m not done with living. I’m not done with loving. I’m not done with creating. I’m not done with hopefully changing things for the better,” she said. "I’m just not — I’m not done.”
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“When you ask yourself, ‘Why me? Why did I get cancer?’ and then ‘Why did my cancer come back? Why am I stage 4?’ that leads you to look for the bigger purpose in life,” she explained.
Shannen's battle has made her passionate about raising awareness and funds to support cancer research. "It’s insane to me [that] we still don’t have a cure.”
Over the summer, the actress shared to social media that the cancer had spread to her brain, giving an intimate look into the treatment process she had to undergo five months prior in order to remove the tumor. “It was definitely one of the scariest things I’ve ever been through in my entire life," she said.
As of now, Shannen hopes to land a place in clinical trials to test out new treatments that are being developed. She also wants to show people that her cancer diagnosis won't stop her from working and living out the life of her dreams.
“People just assume that it means you can’t walk, you can’t eat, you can’t work. They put you out to pasture at a very early age — ‘You’re done, you’re retired,’ and we’re not,” she explained. “We’re vibrant, and we have such a different outlook on life. We are people who want to work and embrace life and keep moving forward.”
"My greatest memory is yet to come," she continued. "I pray. I wake up and go to bed thanking God, praying for the things that matter to me without asking for too much. It connects me to a higher power and spirituality. My faith is my mantra.”
