William Shatner and his daughter reveal simultaneous cancer diagnoses
William Shatner has revealed that he was dealing with stage 4 cancer at the same time as his daughter, Melanie Shatner Gretsch.
The 95-year-old actor told People in an interview published Wednesday that Gretsch, 61, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2022 after finding a lump in her breast.
Shatner revealed that about a year later, in June 2023, he was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma that had spread to his lungs and brain.
“I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,’” Gretsch told the outlet.
The father and daughter duo are both now cancer-free.
Shatner said: “We got the perfect doctors for her cancer and my cancer.”
In the year and a half after her diagnosis, Gretsch — who is the youngest daughter of Shatner and actor Gloria Rand — said she underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy and 30 radiation therapy treatments.
However, when she was nearly done with her treatments, her father found a lump in his cheek that turned out to be a tumor. He had surgery to remove it and underwent two years of immunotherapy to fight the cancer.
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