Danielle Fishel is opening up on her recent health scare. During Monday’s episode of her Pod Meets World podcast, the ’90s icon revealed her breast cancer diagnosis. The 43-year-old actress noted that her co-hosts and former co-stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong were among the few people to whom she first broke the news. She began the episode by telling her fans she “would like to share something with the listeners.”
Boy Meets World star reveals shocking cancer diagnosis
Fishel, who is best known for playing Topanga Lawrence in the beloved sitcom Boy Meets World, revealed that she “was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer.” However, she assured her fans that the diagnosis came at such an early stage that it’s “technically stage zero.”
“To be specific, I was diagnosed with high-grade DCIS with micro-invasion. And I’m going to be fine,” she continued, adding, “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.”
The Boiling Pot star explained that she was previously apprehensive about publically disclosing her cancer diagnosis. “If you’ve ever had those thoughts in your life where someone close to you is diagnosed with cancer, somewhere in your mind you think, ‘What would I do if this were me? What would I do in this situation?’” Fishel said.
“And for some reason, I had always thought I would suffer in silence. I would get the diagnosis. I would not tell anyone. I would only tell my small, small group. And then I would just suck it up. And then when I’m on the other side of it, then I would tell people,” she continued.
Fishel went on to say that over the course of time, she has noticed a shift in her mindset that allows her to open up about her personal issues. “And as I’ve gotten older, I have really tried to learn from the experiences of others. Because I don’t think I did that enough when I was younger,” she said.
The Gravity Falls actress revealed that she first shared the news about her diagnosis with her husband, Jensen Karp, and the rest of her family. “And then what I realized 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,” Fishel added.