Shannen Doherty gives sobering update on cancer fight

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Doherty in 2019 – Rachel Luna/FilmMagic

Former Beverly Hills, 90210 star Shannen Doherty has given her Instagram followers a sobering look at her ongoing battle with stage 4 breast cancer.

Captioning a video from January showing her getting fitted with a face mask used for radiation treatment for brain cancer, Doherty explained Tuesday evening that a CT scan “showed Mets in my brain,” meaning cancer cells have migrated there.

“January 12, the first round of radiation took place,” she explained. “My fear is obvious. I am extremely claustrophobic and there was a lot going on in my life. I am fortunate as I have great doctors like Dr Amin Mirahdi and the amazing techs at [Cedars Sinai Hospital].”

She added, “But that fear…. The turmoil….. the timing of it all…. This is what cancer can look like.”

Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and after entering remission, she revealed in 2020 the disease had spread and returned as stage 4.

In an interview with Good Morning America, the actress said the diagnosis was “a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways.”

“I definitely have days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me?’ Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do,” she said at the time.

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