William Shatner, 95, and his daughter, 61, both reveal stage 4 cancer diagnoses
William Shatner and his daughter, Melanie Shatner Gretsch, revealed they battled stage 4 cancer at the same time.
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The pair — who are both now cancer-free — said in a new interview with People that Gretsch, 61, was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in 2022 after she discovered a lump in her breast.
A year later, Shatner, 95, learned he had stage 4 melanoma that had spread to his lungs and brain.
Gretsch said she underwent multiple rounds of chemo with HER2-targeted therapies, a double mastectomy and 30 radiation therapy treatments over the year and a half after her diagnosis.
But Gretsch admitted she was more concerned with Shatner’s health.
“I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,” she told the outlet.
Shatner explained that when Gretsch was close to finishing her treatment, he noticed a lump on his cheek that turned out to be a growing tumor.
The “Star Trek” icon had surgery to remove the tumor and then underwent two years of immunotherapy to target the cancer in his lungs and brain.
“We got the perfect doctors for her cancer and my cancer,” Shatner shared.
Gretsch, who has two children with husband Joel Gretsch, said her dad “wouldn’t stop his life” and ‘kept working and moving forward” during his cancer battle.
“Whenever he was home, Joel and I would bring dinner to him and watch movies, just always made sure that he’s not alone,” she recalled.
Gretsch also revealed Shatner ease her concerns about the cost of her cancer treatments.
She recalled her dad telling her, “I do not want you to worry. Just send me the bills.”
“Then you made me laugh so hard when I was still going to the doctor a year later,” Gretsch remembered. “You said, ‘You’ve got to get well. We’re going to be in the poorhouse!’”
Shatner and Gretsch are now launching a new podcast called “No Time but Now” where they’ll interview health experts and other cancer survivors.
“It’s easy for us in this lovely home to say, ‘Make your life meaningful.’ It’s much more difficult to be poverty-stricken and wonder how you’re going to get through it. I’ve been there,” Shatner shared to People. “But it’s also possible to endure that and be aware of the beauty around you.”
Gretsch said: “[Overcoming cancer] changed my life. I’m not so afraid anymore, and there’s so much freedom and joy.”
Shatner, who first revealed his cancer diagnosis in 2023, admitted he’s become “fearful” of death in an interview with TV Insider earlier this month.
“I’m always asking questions, because the older I get, the more fearful I will be to die with a question on my mind, like, “What about…,” he said.
“What’s the meaning of life?! Damn; the meaning of life is — and boom! I’m dead!” he quipped. “It’s the fear of not knowing what you could have learned. I get excited by comprehending and apprehending information.”
Shater recently told Hello! magazine that his current “motivation” is to not die.
“I want to stay healthy and functioning, and I’d like to pass away in my sleep because…I have people I love, my family, my dogs,” he said.
