Boy Meets World star Danielle Fishel has confirmed she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The actress, 43, played Topanga Lawrence on the hit US 90s sitcom, reprising her role for the Disney spin-off Girl Meets World in 2014.
Her association with the franchise has continued as she has been hosting podcast Pod Meets World with co-stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle since 2022.
Fishel - who shares two young sons with producer and writer Jensen Karp - revealed her concerning health update during the latest episode of the podcast.
“I would like to share something with our listeners, something that Rider and Will were two of the first people I told the news to,” she began.
“I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer. It is very, very, very early. It’s technically stage zero.
“To be specific, just because I like too much information all the time, I was diagnosed with high-grade DCIS with micro-invasion.”
Reassuring fans that she was going to be fine, she continued: “I’m going to be fine. I’m having surgery to remove it.
“I’m going to be on some follow-up treatment. I’ve had to make a lot of decisions over the last couple of days.”
She went on to explain that the “only reason” she was sharing her diagnosis, despite her initial instinct being to “clam up”, was to help other people.
“What I realised is the more people I talk to, the more people had their own experiences, either themselves being diagnosed with cancer or a family member who’s been diagnosed with cancer, and the world of resources and experiences that can be shared by sharing it and things that can be learned,” she continued.
“The only reason I caught this cancer when it is still stage zero is because the day I got my text message that my yearly mammogram had come up, I made the appointment.
“And the fact that I am good about going to my doctor’s appointments, when truthfully, it would be so much easier with as busy as I am with the 50 jobs I have, and the two kids, and a husband and a house, it would be so easy to say, “I don’t have time for that, I went to my mammogram last year, I was fine last year, I don’t need to go again, it’s going to be fine, I was fine last year,” and I didn’t.
“Instead, I was like, ‘yeah, it’s time, got to make that appointment,’ and they found it so, so, so early that I’m going to be fine. I hope it will encourage anyone to get in there.
“If you’ve never had an appointment before, get in there. If you have to find out that you have cancer, find out when it’s at stage zero, if possible.’
“I have some big decisions ahead of me about what I want to do for treatment. I don’t have all the answers yet,” she concluded.
