Boy Meets World star Danielle Fishel has revealed she’s been diagnosed with a form of breast cancer.
The 43-year-old played Topanga Lawrence on the sitcom, reprising her role for the Disney spin-off Girl Meets World in 2014.
Speaking on the rewatch podcast of the 90s series, Pod Meets World, Danielle said: ‘I would like to share something with our listeners, something that Rider [Strong] and Will [Friedle] were two of the first people I told the news to.
‘I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer.
‘It is very, very, very early. It’s technically stage zero.
‘To be specific, just because I like too much information all the time, I was diagnosed with high-grade DCIS with micro-invasion.’
She went on: ‘I’m going to be fine. I’m having surgery to remove it.
‘I’m going to be on some follow-up treatment. I’ve had to make a lot of decisions over the last couple of days.’
She added that the ‘only reason’ she was sharing her diagnosis, after always thinking if it ever happened that she would ‘suffer in silence’ and her first instinct was to ‘clam up’, was to help other people.
‘What I realised is the more people I talk to, the more people had their own experiences, either themselves being diagnosed with cancer or a family member who’s been diagnosed with cancer, and the world of resources and experiences that can be shared by sharing it and things that can be learned,’ the mum-of-two continued.
‘The only reason I caught this cancer when it is still stage zero is because the day I got my text message that my yearly mammogram had come up, I made the appointment.
A Million Missed Mammograms
After being diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine mammogram in November, Dawn Butler MP was grateful to find out it was caught early.
However, she learned that a million women missed out on their mammograms due to the pandemic, with an estimated 10,000 currently living with undetected breast cancer.
Determined to change that, Dawn has launched a campaign with Metro.co.uk to get a million women to book their missed screenings.
If you have been inspired to do so after hearing Dawn’s story, please let her know on her website, emailing us or using #FindTheMillion on social media.
‘And the fact that I am good about going to my doctor’s appointments, when truthfully, it would be so much easier with as busy as I am with the 50 jobs I have, and the two kids, and a husband and a house, it would be so easy to say, “I don’t have time for that, I went to my mammogram last year, I was fine last year, I don’t need to go again, it’s going to be fine, I was fine last year,” and I didn’t.
‘Instead, I was like, “yeah, it’s time, got to make that appointment,” and they found it so, so, so early that I’m going to be fine. I hope it will encourage anyone to get in there.
‘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 zero, if possible.’
‘I have some big decisions ahead of me about what I want to do for treatment. I don’t have all the answers yet,’ she added.
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Macmillan cancer support
If you or someone you care about has been diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan can offer support and information.
You can contact their helpline on 0808 808 00 00 (7 days a week from 8am to 8pm), use their webchat service, or visit their site for more information.
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