An Inspirational Icon
- The loss of Shannen Doherty, who died on July 13 of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer at age 53, affected fans and loved ones from around the world, and the cancer community was hit particularly hard by this profound loss.
- The Beverly Hills, 90210 actress gave people hope, and despite her passing — which can be especially devastating for other late stage survivors, it’s important to keep going in her honor and not give up that hope that she instilled.
- After the death of a loved one or someone you looked up to, it’s key to remember that grief may look different for everyone. The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These labels help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These stages can also occur in any order.
- As far as your own cancer journey, don’t give up. There are more and more options becoming available for patients to manage symptoms of advanced stage disease, and it’s best to talk about specific treatment plans and what is best for you with your own doctor.
The Beverly Hills, 90210 star gave people hope, and despite her passing — which can be exceptionally heavy on other late stage survivors, it’s important to keep going and not lose faith in your own journey.
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The day the world woke up to the tragic news, comments came pouring in on Instagram for the late pop culture icon.
“Rest in peace. I’m donating to metavivor today in your honor,” one fan commented, while actress Selma Blair shared: “Thank you for showing us how to keep going.”
CEO Alana Stewart — who runs the Farrah Fawcett Foundation in honor of her late best friend’s cancer mission — wrote, “God bless you, you’re an amazing inspiration.”
How to Cope After Losing a Loved One to Cancer
After the death of a loved one or someone you looked up to, it’s key to remember that grief may look different for everyone.
Everyone is entitled to their feelings, and yes, the emotions are real, even if you consider yourself “just a fan.”
The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. These labels help us frame and identify what we may be feeling. These stages can also occur in any order.
The time it takes to navigate these stages can also vary, so giving yourself grace and patience is essential while navigating your feelings.
“It often gets better over time, but on certain days, it can look like depression, and on other days, people look perfectly normal and can function,” Dr. Scott Irwin, a board-certified psychiatrist and Director of Supportive Care Services at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
Dr. Irwin added that grieving people are coming to terms with “the change in their life; the future they had imagined is now different.”
SurvivorNet also had a prior conversation with Megan Newcomer, who lost a close friend to metastatic cancer in 2018. She shared her unique way of coping with grief.
Newcomer’s friend was an athlete and soccer player, so to help her cope, she embarked on a marathon race in his honor, and advises others grieving to first “acknowledge your feelings.”
“Then, think about a way that you could honor the person through a mechanism that is meaningful to you,” she continued. “So that can be artwork, music, or developing a financial fundraising project. It could be something very simple, but I do think having it be intentional is what you’re doing to help honor this person.”
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In a column for SurvivorNet, New York-based clinical psychologist Dr. Marianna Strongin expressed that it may be helpful to remind yourself that these feelings are “meaningful yet temporary.”
“If you approach them with compassion, kindness, and eventually acceptance, you will come away from this period in your life more connected to your resilience and strength,” Dr. Strongin added.
Understanding Metastatic Breast Cancer
Stage 4, or metastatic breast cancer, means that the cancer has spread to distant areas of the body. Even though there is currently no cure for metastatic breast cancer, doctors have many options to treat this advanced stage of breast cancer.
Hormone therapy, chemotherapy and targeted drugs are all options to talk to her doctor about, depending on your individual needs. Sometimes surgery and/or radiation is considered as part of the treatment, but mainly it is important to focus on improving your quality of life.
Dr. Erica Mayer, a medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, says clinical trials have shown that hormone medicines are more effective when paired with targeted therapies. At some point, chemotherapy will be introduced. And according to Dr. Mayer, it’s delivered at a dose and schedule that’s as well-tolerated as possible.
“We are so lucky in breast cancer that we have so many effective and well-tolerated treatments,” Dr. Mayer previously told SurvivorNet. I’m so gratified to see that patients are doing better and living longer today with metastatic breast cancer than they have ever done before.”
Bottom line, there are more and more options becoming available for patients to manage symptoms of advanced stage disease, and it’s best to talk about specific treatment plans and what is best for you with your own doctor.
Treating Metastatic Breast Cancer
With metastatic breast cancer, the primary goal of treatment is to control its spread. SurvivorNet offers information about what those options are from targeted therapies to chemotherapy and when these various treatment options can be used.
We also provide information on new, exciting research that is currently being tested in clinical trials and information about when recently approved drugs, like immunotherapies, can be used.
For help finding a clinical trial that may be right for you or a loved one, try our easy-to-use Clinical Trial Finder.
While there have been many developments in recent years when it comes to treating late-stage breast cancer, which therapies can be used will depend on the characteristics of the patient’s cancer.
What are the treatment options for late-stage breast cancer?
“Metastatic breast cancer is a treatable disease,” Dr. Kenneth D. Miller, medical oncologist at the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore shared in a pior interview with SurvivorNet.
“Fortunately, we have so many new treatments for women with recurrent breast cancer and for many women who look at this as a chronic disease that they can live with — often for many years.”
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