Shannen Doherty is living her best life with metastatic breast cancer. She’s currently working on a breast cancer movie for Lifetime.
In addition to acting in List of a Lifetime, Doherty revealed that she is directing special content that will appear on Lifetime's website and social media platforms.
The actress was initially diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, when she discovered a cancerous lump in her breast.
Shannen Doherty, 50, has long used her celebrity to shine a spotlight on conversations around cancer. The breast cancer fighter is vocal about the ways that she finds joy in life with cancer, and in an Instagram post on Friday, Doherty shared her chance to step behind the camera.
The actress will appear alongside Kelly Hu (Finding Ohana), Sylvia Kwan (Grey's Anatomy), Patricia Velasquez (Arrested Development), and Jane Sibbett (Friends) in an upcoming Lifetime feature film called List of a Lifetime. Formerly titled Breast Cancer Bucket List, the movie will premiere on October 10 as part of Lifetime's annual Stop Breast Cancer for Life campaign.
In addition to acting in List of a Lifetime, Doherty revealed that she is directing special content that will appear on Lifetime's website and social media platforms. This opportunity was special to her both because of the women she directed, and the chance to use her art to tell stories about breast cancer. She writes, "For me, being a part of this is very special as the movie is about breast cancer and then to be able to direct these wonderful ladies who do an amazing job in the movie."
Doherty's Journey with Cancer
The actress was initially diagnosed in 2015, when she discovered a cancerous lump in her breast. Doherty's condition was first treated with hormone therapy, but the cancer expanded to her lymph nodes.
After undergoing a single mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation, Doherty went into remission. In February 2020, however, she announced that her breast cancer had returned and spread throughout her body. Revealing her diagnosis in an interview with Good Morning America, Doherty told Amy Robach, "I don't think I've processed it. It's a bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways." Since her announcement, Doherty has used her social media to share updates on her journey with the disease and to highlight the ways that she continues to live a fulfilling life.
Shannen Doherty attends the 9th Annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 05, 2019. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
Understanding Metastatic Breast Cancer
Metastatic breast cancer is also commonly known as stage IV or advanced breast cancer. These terms mean that the cancer has spread to another part of the body, often the brain, bones, liver, or lungs.
As is true in Shannen Doherty's case, breast cancer cells can move from the original tumor and travel through the body, sometimes resurfacing months or years after the condition is treated. The process that causes cancerous cells to re-appear is not well-understood. Dr. Alana Welm of the Huntsman Cancer Institute explained in a previous interview: "We’ve been working for a long time to try to understand how the breast cancers spread and, more importantly, how they grow once they’re living in the bones or the brain or the liver or the lungs." When a metastatic tumor is discovered in another part of the body, it is still composed of breast cancer cells, regardless of where it spreads to.
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, breast cancer medical oncologist Dr. Erica Mayer of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute explained different ways that breast cancer might be diagnosed: "There are many ways in which a person is found to have metastatic breast cancer. Sometimes, this is picked up on an imaging test or a blood test. And sometimes, this is picked up through a symptom that comes up that leads to further evaluation."
Some people may have metastatic breast cancer when they are first diagnosed with the diseasethis is called de novo metastatic breast cancer. For the majority of patients, metastatic cancer only appears years after they are first treated for early or locally advanced cancer. These situations are known as distant recurrences.
Symptoms and Treatment
Different types of metastatic breast cancer may produce different symptoms. For bone metastasis, these symptoms may include pain in a patient's bones, back, neck, or joints. Bone fractures and swelling are also common symptoms. Brain metastasis symptoms may include headaches, seizures, nausea, dizziness, disorientation or loss of balance, confusion, changes in vision, and changes in personality. Typical lung metastasis symptoms are difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and a dry cough. Some common liver metastasis symptoms are yellowing skin and eyes, rashes and itchy skin, stomach pain, loss of appetite, and nausea.
Dr. Mayer notes, "Metastatic breast cancer is a very treatable stage of breast cancer, but it is not a curable stage of breast cancer." Though the condition cannot be cured, some types of treatment may shrink tumors or slow their development. Treatments may also relieve symptoms, and prolong a patient's life. The specifics of a patient's treatment plan will depend on a variety of factors, including the biology of the cancer cells discovered, the locations in the body that the cancer has spread, the symptoms the patient experiences, and the patient's history of breast cancer treatment.
Dr. Alana Welm, Investigator at the Hunstman Cancer Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah, on finding the balance between screening and treatment.
