Danielle Fishel has breast cancer.
The 43-year-old “Boy Meets World” actress revealed her diagnosis on Monday’s episode of her podcast, “Capsule meets world” Hosted by her former co-stars Will Friedle and Rider Strong.
“I want to share something with our listeners, which is that Ryder and Will were actually two of the first people I told the news to,” Fishel said.
“I was recently diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma of the duct“It stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer,” she said.
“It’s very, very, very early, it’s technically stage zero,” the actress continued. “Specifically, I was diagnosed with high-grade ductal carcinoma in situ with microscopic invasion. And I’m going to be fine. I’m going to have surgery to remove it. And I’m going to have some follow-up therapy. I’ve had to make a lot of decisions over the last couple of days.”
Fishel explained that she initially didn’t intend to share her diagnosis publicly, but realized she could help others with her own health story.
“If you have these thoughts in your life about someone close to you being diagnosed with cancer, somewhere in your mind you think, ‘What would I do if that were me? What would I do in that situation?’” she said.
“And for some reason, I always thought I would suffer in silence. I would get the diagnosis. I wouldn’t tell anyone. I would just tell my very small group. And then I would just take it. And then when I got to the other side of it, I would tell people.”
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve really tried to learn from other people’s experiences,” Fishel continued. “Because I don’t think I did that enough when I was younger.”
The ‘Gravity Falls’ star said she told her husband first. Jensen Carbwho has sons Adler, 5, and Keaton, 3, and the rest of her family who have had breast cancer.
“Then I realized that the more people I talked to, the more people had their own experiences, either having been diagnosed with cancer or having a family member who had been diagnosed with cancer,” she explained before ensuring she got a mammogram.
“The only reason I had this cancer when it was still early is because I booked an appointment the day I got a text message saying I had my annual mammogram. I make sure I go to my doctor’s appointments, and it’s much easier to say, ‘I don’t have time for that’ when I’m so busy.”
“Instead,” Fishel added, “I said to myself, ‘Yes, it’s time. I have to make this appointment.’ And they found that it was too, too, too early for me to be fine.”
“So I want to share this with you because I hope it encourages anyone to come in,” she said. “If it’s time for your appointment, if you haven’t had an appointment before, come in. And if you have to find out you have cancer, find out when it’s stage zero, if that’s possible.”
Fishel told her podcast listeners that she has “some big decisions” ahead of her regarding her battle with cancer.
“I still haven’t got all the answers,” she said. “I still have doctors to see, oncologists, radiation specialists, hormone therapists, all sorts of things I’m still waiting to decide on.”
Both of Fishel’s co-hosts expressed their support for her after she revealed her diagnosis.
“Whatever your needs are, we are here,” said Friedel, 48. “And if you need to miss something or if you need to postpone some things, that is the last thing you should worry about.”