Shannen Doherty has recently opened up about her breast cancer journey.
The 50-year-old actress share images of what she called “my own personal journey from my first diagnosis to my second” in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Last year, Doherty revealed that her cancer had returned as stage 4 after previously entering remission in 2017.
On Thursday, she wrote on Instagram, “Is it all pretty? NO but it’s truthful and my hope in sharing is that we all become more educated, more familiar with what cancer looks like. I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular checkups, to cut thru the fear and face whatever might be in front of you.”
One of the photos showed Doherty with a bloodied tissue stuck up her nostril.
Doherty wrote, “In 2015 I got diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a mastectomy and did chemo and radiation. I had many nose bleeds from the chemo. Not sure if any of you experienced this.”
She said was often “beyond tired” during treatment and she would put on “funny pajamas” to keep her spirits up.
The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum continued, “Did they actually cheer me up? Yes!! Lol. I looked ridiculous and in that ridiculousness, I was able to laugh at myself. Finding humor helped get me thru what seemed impossible. I hope we all find humor in the impossible.”
In September, during a virtual panel for her new Lifetime movie List of a Lifetime, Doherty spoke about her cancer battle, revealing that she feels “a responsibility” to shatter misconceptions around cancer.
She told reporters at the time, “I feel like I have a responsibility in my more public life, which I separate from my acting life … to talk about cancer and perhaps educate people more and let people know that people with stage 4 are very much alive and very active.”
“My husband [Kurt Iswarienko] says that you would never know that I have cancer,” she added. “I never really complain. I don’t really talk about it. It’s part of life at this point.”
