A long time Hollywood member the name Shannen Doherty most likely rings a bell. The actress is best known for her role in Beverly Hills 90210, the popular early 2000's show. She has also starred in numerous other TV shows and movies as well as doing some modeling work, all ever since the 1980's. Tragically, Shannen has been making news for reasons outside of her acting career lately, she has been diagnosed with cancer.
Shannen, born April 12, 1971 in Memphis, is an actress, producer, author, and TV director active in the US. She was born into a very standard american family, her mother owned a beauty parlor and her father was a mortgage consultant, they raised her as a Southern Baptist.
Now 46 years old, Shannen has had a successful career in Hollywood that started when she was still a pre-teen. At 11 years old Shannen landed the role of Jenny Wilder in the popular show Little House on the Prairie after the producer saw her on a different show, Father Murphy.
Shannen was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 2015. This is tragically not very uncommon as 1 in 8 U.S. women will develop invasive breast cancer at some point in her life. Upon her initial diagnosis Shannen went through a single mastectomy to try to stop the cancer.
Unfortunately her mastectomy did not work and Shannen's cancer is continuing to spread. The process of treating cancer is a very harsh and invasive task and takes a lot out of the patients, such as Shannen. Most treatments involve pumping extreme amounts of chemicals into the body.
Through this tough battle with cancer Shannen has decided to take this opportunity to show her fans what it is like to undergo all of these types of treatments. Cancer is a tough subject, and it isn't always easy to find people speaking on it from the first person perspective.
The one silver lining of her battle is that Shannen feels like it has helped her to grow as a person. In her own words "Cancer has in a strange was done some amazing things for me. It's allowed me to be more me, like much more in touch with who I am."
The cancer that originated as breast cancer appeared for a while to be in remission after her first treatment but has since come back, and even worse. The cancer is now in her Lymphatic system which runs throughout the whole body.
Currently Shannen's health is at an all time low. She says that the pain is manageable, but she worries for her future and how she is impacting those she loves. Her husband has to be by her side almost all of the time as she can no longer take care of herself.
For Shannen, the most difficult part of all of this is the element of the unknown. There are so many questions when dealing with cancer, and very few guarantees. With so many variables from chemo to radiation to if the cancer will emerge again, it is a lot to deal with.
Although she is doing everything that she can, nothing will be able to tell how Shannen's battle with cancer is going to end besides time. For now Shannen plans to keep publishing her journey with all of her fans and is happy to know other cancer patients can view her story as well.
Lymphatic cancer, also known as Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, is much less common than breast cancer, making up only 4.3% of cancer cases in the U.S. This type of cancer is more life threatening than breast cancer, but still has a decent 71% survival rate.
The lymphatic system is unique in that it is spread all throughout the body and has multiple nodes in different places. This system plays an irreplaceable role in the body and unlike a breast the flesh cannot just be removed to stop the cancer.
Many of her fans have wondered, if Shannen gets well would she return to her former career as an actress? It is hard to say because as of right now Shannen is fully focused on getting better and spending her current time as much as she can with her loved ones.
Even if Shannen did want to return to Hollywood after she has beaten cancer, would she be able to? Unfortunately for her, Shannen has a bit of a reputation in the industry. Former co workers have said that she is both difficult to work with and unprofessional at times.
Career troubles aside, Shannen seems like a lovely woman, and cancer is an extremely hard uphill battle to fight, no matter how many resources you have. It seems like Shannen's loved ones are doing all they can to help her, and from us we are wishing her all of the best!
