#2024 article

December 2024 - People Yearbook.

Farewell, Old Friends. Those We Lost.

We spent countless hours in their company, watching them grow up on a TV, play the songs we still sing along to or do magic at the movies. They got us talking, moving, laughing and creating lasting shared memories.

In Memoriam.

B. 1971.

Shannen Doherty.

For the last nine years of her life, the straight-talking star became as well.known for the forthright and public way she confronted cancer as she had been for the sensation she caused at 19 as the rebellious Brenda Walsh (girlfiend of Luke Perry's Dylan McKay, above) on the smash teen drama Beverly Hills 90210.

The show's instant success was "overwhelming", she admitted, but "being someone who didn't necessarily play by the rules, I didn't placate the men in my business." She left the series early, but 90210 producer Aaron Spelling then cast the Memphis native in his supernatiral drama Charmed, as one of three sisters who were witches. It too became a cultural touchstone.

Of her three marriages, "Listen, Elizabeth Taylor still has me beat as far as husbands and divorces, so I'm good," she told People.

In a way "it was this really beautiful thing," she later said of having to come to terms with Hollywood and her reputation for sometimes being difficult. "That sort of childhood resentment –19 to me is childhood– was gone."

In 2015 at age 40, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. she began raising money for cancer awareness, joined season 10 of Dancing With the Stars and in 2019 appeared with several of her original 90210 castmates in the cheeky revival BH90210. In 2023 she launched a podcast with the completely-in-character title Let's Be Clear.

"I'm not affraid of death," Doherty, who died at 53 in July, told People in November 2023 when she revealed that her cancer had spread to her bones. "I know where I'm going – and I know the people that I'm going to see."

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Vogue — Opinion

Team Brenda Forever

By Fiorella Valdesolo

July 15, 2024

Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection

“TV’s brashest 21-year-old talks revealingly about her wild past, her brief engagement, and ‘people who think I’m a bitch,’” the coverline next to a picture of Shannen Doherty reads on a 1992 issue of People magazine. A year later, on another People cover: “Out of Control! These days, Beverly Hills’ hard-partying, check-bouncing bad girl may be going way too far.”

In the ’90s—before a wave of early-aughts tabloids and bloggers like Perez Hilton made a mint lampooning young, female celebrities like Lindsay and Britney and Paris—Shannen Doherty was popular fodder. Drunken nights out, shotgun marriages, fights at the club, court-appointed anger-management classes, and other run-ins with the law were breathlessly chronicled for a celebrity-obsessed public thirsty to see the unraveling of the stars they tuned in to watch every week. Doherty was deemed unhinged, branded a liability. How the media treated her (and Drew Barrymore, too, for that matter) was a template for the years to follow, when such cruelty would become ever more commonplace and, with the dawn of social media, ever more accessible. Doherty was branded a bad girl; she was called difficult, a notoriously loaded term when lobbed at women.

But for teenage me, those were the very labels that made me fiercely love her. They were labels that Brenda Walsh, the character that arguably made Doherty most famous, had already confronted onscreen. When Beverly Hills, 90210 debuted in 1990, I was in junior high and already deeply familiar with Doherty from her roles as Jenny on Little House on the Prairie, Kris Witherspoon (opposite tween dream Chad Allen) on Our House, and as one of the titular mean girls in the seminal 1980s film Heathers. Brenda Walsh (played by a then 19-year-old Doherty) was introduced to audiences as a wide-eyed girl from Minnesota with a stretchy headband, mousy brown hair, and pastel-hued wardrobe who, along with her goody-two-shoes twin brother, Brandon, had been plopped into the decadence and debauchery of LA. “Nobody knows me here—I could be anybody, I could be somebody,” Brenda says to her brother on the show’s first episode as she anxiously considers what to wear on her first day at a school in a city that was definitely not Minneapolis. Beverly Hills, 90210 would dive into taboo topics like AIDS, domestic violence, eating disorders, suicide, and drug abuse, becoming a runaway hit for producer Aaron Spelling. All these years later, the show remains the pinnacle of teen drama, and Brenda its queen. (Let’s face it: The seasons after Spelling booted Doherty from the cast could never measure up, even with the addition of Tiffani Thiessen’s chaos-courting Valerie Malone.)

Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection

Over the course of the four seasons that Doherty was on 90210, Brenda would grow and shift, both in her look (along came the bodysuits, high-waist jeans, endlessly imitated dark brown hair with blunt bangs, and that signature knowing smirk) and her identity. We watched her decide to have sex for the first time (an episode that famously raised conservative eyebrows); contend with a pregnancy scare; fight and make up and break up (to the tune of R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion”) with Dylan; rebel against her parents’ arcane rules; try on new personas (bonjour, Brenda Dubois); get arrested (for protesting animal testing, naturally); and face the aftermath of a best friend’s betrayal. Yet Brenda would also face well-publicized backlash from fans of the show, as people began to conflate the character with Doherty’s off-screen behavior. (There was even a popular ’90s zine called the I Hate Brenda Newsletter.)

Brenda—or was it Shannen?—became the girl people loved to hate. Doherty once said in an interview: “People couldn’t separate me from her, and I got sick of people assuming that I was as naughty and bad as Brenda was. It was all very hurtful.” Though one was fictionalized, they were both up against the complicated pressures of adolescence and wanting to be taken seriously. Both on television and off, Doherty was passionate, she was intense, she was straightforward, she was self-assured, and for all these reasons, she was dismissed and poorly regarded. For those of us navigating our own coming of age, and simultaneously facing harsh judgment from our families and peers, we saw ourselves in Brenda—and, in turn, in Shannen. I know I did.

When the news broke this week that Doherty had died from cancer, prompting an outpouring of social media tributes and Instagram messages from saddened friends, I saw that others felt the same way. Part of the sadness seemed to come from how hard Doherty had fought to live; she’d recently shared on her excellent and refreshingly candid podcast Let’s Be Clear how hopeful she felt about a new course of chemotherapy.

Shannen Doherty’s Birthday Gift From PETA: Rescued Horse Named in Her Honor

For Immediate Release: April 11, 2024

Los Angeles – To mark actor Shannen Doherty’s birthday tomorrow, PETA has named a rescued horse after the Beverly Hills, 90210 star in honor of her longtime dream of establishing a sanctuary for elderly and abandoned horses. Doherty recently revealed that, as she continues to undergo treatment for cancer, she has chosen to give up her plan to renovate her property in Tennessee to house the animals.

Shannen the horse is roughly 5 years old and was rescued from a life of exhausting drudgery hauling vegetable carts in Delhi by PETA India, whose mechanization project helps locals replace animals used for labor with trucks, tractors, and other machinery. Now at an Animal Rahat sanctuary, Shannen can lounge in the shade, socialize with other horses, and eat the fresh mangoes that grow in its orchard—and she’ll never be forced to pull a heavy cart in the blistering heat again.

Shannen at an Animal Rahat sanctuary. Credit: Animal Rahat

“Shannen Doherty recognizes that horses like her namesake belong in green pastures, not shackled to carts in noisy city streets,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “PETA is celebrating her birthday and her huge heart for animals by honoring her dream and giving this horse a chance at a happy and healthy life in which she can run free, roll in the grass, and never be chained again.”

Shannen Doherty’s Untimely Death Sparks Important Conversations About Healthcare Access And Equity

By Janice Gassam Asare

Shannen Doherty, the actress best known for her roles in Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed has died after a long battle with cancer, at the age of 53. In a 2015 statement to People magazine, the actress revealed her breast cancer diagnosis, stating that she was “undergoing treatment” and that she was suing a firm and its former business manager for causing her to lose her health insurance due to a failure to pay the insurance premiums. According to reports, in a lawsuit Doherty shared that she hired a firm for tax, accounting, and investment services, among other things, and that part of their role was to make her health insurance premium payments to the Screen Actors Guild; Doherty claimed that their failure to make the premium payments in 2014 caused her health insurance to lapse until the re-enrollment period in 2015. When Doherty went in for a checkup in March of 2015, the cancer was discovered, at which time it had spread. In the lawsuit, Doherty indicated that if she had insurance, she would have been able to get the checkup sooner—the cancer would have been discovered, and she could have avoided chemotherapy and a mastectomy.

Under the IRS, actors are often classified as independent contractors, which comes with its own set of challenges. Although it is unclear what Doherty’s situation was, for many independent contractors, obtaining health insurance can be difficult. Trying to get health insurance as an independent contractor can be a costly and convoluted process. A 2020 Actors’ Equity Association survey indicated that “more than 80% of nonunion actors and stage managers in California have been misclassified as independent contractors.” A 2021 research study revealed that self-employment (which is what independent contractors are considered to be) was associated with a higher likelihood of being uninsured.

Doherty’s tragic situation invites a larger conversation about healthcare access and equity in the United States. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as “Obamacare,” was signed into law in 2010 and revolutionized healthcare access in two distinct ways: “creating health insurance marketplaces with federal financial assistance that reduces premiums and deductibles and by allowing states to expand Medicaid to adults with household incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.” The ACA helped reduce the number of uninsured Americans and expanded healthcare access to those most in need. It also helped close gaps in coverage for different populations, including those with pre-existing health conditions, lower-income individuals, part-time workers, and those from historically excluded and marginalized populations.

Despite strides made through the ACA, healthcare access and equity are still persistent issues, especially within marginalized communities. Research from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) examining 2010-2022 data indicated that in 2022, non-elderly American Indian and Alaska Natives (AIAN) and Hispanic people had the greatest uninsured rates (19.1% and 18% respectively). When compared with their white counterparts, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islanders (NHOPI) and Black people also had higher uninsured rates at 12.7% and 10%, respectively. The Commonwealth Fund reported that between 2013 and 2021, “states that expanded Medicaid eligibility had higher rates of insurance coverage and health care access, with smaller disparities between racial/ethnic groups and larger improvements, than states that didn’t expand Medicaid.” It’s important to note that if a Republican president is elected, Project 2025, the far-right policy proposal document, seeks to upend Medicaid as we know it by introducing limits on the amount of time that a person can receive Medicaid.

When peeling back the layers to examine these racial and ethnic differences in more detail, the Brookings Institute noted in 2020 that the refusal of several states to expand Medicaid could be one contributing factor. One 2017 research study found that some underrepresented racial groups were more likely to experience insurance loss than their white counterparts. The study indicated that for Black and Hispanic populations, specific trigger events were more likely, as well as “socioeconomic characteristics” that were linked to more insurance loss and slower insurance gain. The study also noted that in the U.S., health insurance access was associated with employment and and marriage and that Black and Hispanic populations were “disadvantaged in both areas.”

Updated March 11th, 2024

Crusading to Save Horses, Shannen Doherty Says ‘We Have To Speak For The Voiceless’

Helping Horses Amid Cancer

Beloved actress Shannen Doherty, 52, often takes to social media while battling stage 4 breast cancer. She recently shared a video of herself urging others to take action and stop horse slaughter, as well as the export of horses. Being able to help animals while dealing with one’s own health battle is incredibly inspirational. We admire Doherty’s kindness and empathy toward animals— both horses and dogs.

Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. It went into remission in 2017 but returned as stage 4 cancer in 2019. Her breast cancer spread to her brain causing her to undergo surgery to remove a tumor in her brain. Since brain surgery, Doherty’s recovery appears to be going well and supporting animals in need.

Challenging oneself can actually help people facing cancer, chronic disease, or other problems to develop resilience, which is an essential coping tool. That process of pushing oneself to try new things is one of the “three wellsprings of vitality,” according to Dr. Samantha Boardman. The other two are connecting with others and contributing to the lives of people around you.

“Those are the cores of vitality, and the core pathways to enhance your everyday resilience,” Dr. Boardman explains.

As “Beverly Hills, 90210” star Shannen Doherty’s battle with metastatic breast cancer is ongoing, and so is her passion for animal rights. We’re admiring the beloved actress’s ability to focus her energy on animals in need, especially during her personal health journey and making time for her new podcast  iHeart Radio podcast “​Let’s Be Clear,” as well as spending time with friends and family.

The horse enthusiast was recently featured in an Instagram reel urging her fans to “take action” and contact your members of Congress to support the “The SAFE Act to ban horse slaughter.”

The video clip, posted to Doherty’s Instagram page and originally shared by the non profit organization Horses In Our Hands, shows the animal lover saying, “Each year, thousands of horses are shipped off to slaughter. It’s an unbelievably inhumane slaughter. “We don’t eat horse meat here in America, but people do dump their horses off so that they can go to Japan and Mexico and Canada. And they are often shipped without water, without food, and then slaughtered inhumanely.”

She continued, “Horses are sentiment beings. They love. They feel. Our personal horses, our pets, get such emotional attachments to us as we do to them. Our American wild horses. I mean, there’s poems written about the American wild horse. There’s books, there’s movies.

“When people think about American, they think about the cowboy. They think about the roundups. It’s just … and yet we’re not protecting them. Instead, we have government agencies that are rounding up our wild mustangs, our wild horses … putting them in pens, breaking them from their families, from their band. Fools, babies, they are rounding up. And they go to auction and kill buyers buy them. And these beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, once wild, once free sentient beings are then shipped off and brutally dismembered for human consumption.”

“I believe we’re at the point where we have to be responsible. We have to speak for the voiceless. We have to be their voices. The SAFE Act will do that,” Doherty said, before urging her followers to do anything they can in their efforts to reach out to legislators and fight for the cause.

Doherty also urged her fans to “do it for me” before telling them how her passion for horses began when she started riding when she was a kid.

She recounted when she auditioned for a 1985 American television miniseries called “Robert Kennedy and His Times,” and how she was asked if she rode horses and could jump, to which she responded, “Yes, just tell me how high.”

But she admitted that when she got the job she didn’t actually know how to ride a horse, so she leased a horse named Joey and learned how to ride.

“That horse became my best friend. I loved grooming him. I loved spending time. I would just walk with him and it was great. And then I just kept that going,” she added, noting how she’s had horses that have grown old and she doesn’t sell them off, but instead, puts them out to pasture, “where they are watched and vets come, and I care for them.”

Referring to another horse she had named Picasso, Doherty said he passed away from old age and had a “wonderful life” with her.

She concluded, “All horses deserve that life and all wild horses deserve to be wild. … Lets have the horses have their land and more importantly, lets stop shipping horses off for slaughter in foreign countries.

The Horses In Our Hands’ post reminds everyone to take action for this cause by using the link on their Instagram page to “send a letter urging your members of Congress to support the bipartisan SAFE Act -Save America’s Forgotten Equines Act (H.R. 3475 / S. 2037).”

The SAFE Act will “permanently ban horse slaughter in the United States” as U.S. Slaughter House inspecting has been defunded yearly by Congress since 2007.

Additionally, the act will “permanently ban the export of American horses to other countries for slaughter.”

In an earlier Instagram post, Doherty’s love for horses can be seen a photo she shared of a horse and an open grass field, writing alongside it, “Off the grid. Horses. Cattle. My soul is starting to feel rejuvenated again.

“Back when I’m back.. #mountainlife #ranchlife #nocellexceptforonemountaintop which I’ll avoid for rest of time here.”

In another photo shared on her Instagram page, Doherty is seen offering a carrot to a beautiful horse … and it’s the sweetest thing. We’re delighted to see her pushing forward and being the voice for the voiceless.

(@theshando/Instagram)

Animals and Healing

It is often said that animals improve our quality of life, and that can especially be true for people battling cancer like Doherty. Though she has always been an advocate, her passion for animals gives her something to focus on and put her heart into each and every day.

We often need to keep going, and there have been studies showing the power of passion of positivity affecting the outcome of your disease. What still brings you joy? It’s important to do things to feed your emotional health just as much as your physical. For Doherty, it usually involves furry friends, but she also enjoys hanging out with other humans.

It’s important to remember that life doesn’t slow down for a cancer diagnosis, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. In fact, our experts say that prioritizing your overall wellbeing and continuing to do the things you love, like how Doherty continues to save animals, can be very beneficial.

Dr. Geoffrey Oxnard, a thoracic oncologist, previously shared to SurvivorNet the three things he tells his lung cancer patients about living with the disease:

Don’t act sick “You can’t mope around,” he said. “Do things, and in doing things, you will stay active.”

Don’t lose weight “Eat what you need to do to not lose weight,” he said. “I like my patients pleasantly plump.”

Don’t be a tough guy “When you’ve got lung cancer, you need work with your doctor to keep your medical conditions under control.”

Shannen Doherty’s Cancer Battle

Shannen Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 after she discovered a lump in her breast. For treatments the first time around, she underwent hormone therapy, a single mastectomy (the removal of all breast tissue from one breast), chemotherapy and radiation.

Then in 2017, Doherty was deemed to be in remission, however, the cancer returned just two years later in 2019 as metastatic, or stage four, breast cancer.

Updated March 8th, 2024

‘Tennessee Girls’: Shannen Doherty, 52, Spends Quality Time With ‘Mama Rosa’ Outdoors Amid Advanced Breast Cancer Battle— The Healing Power of Nature

The Healing Power of Support & Nature Through Cancer Treatment

We’re happy to see Shannen Doherty, 52, enjoying the outdoors amid her advanced breast cancer battle, alongside her loving and supportive mom Rosa Elizabeth Doherty, 76.

Doherty was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. It went into remission in 2017 but returned as stage 4 cancer in 2019. Her breast cancer has since spread to her brain causing her to undergo surgery to remove a tumor in her brain.

Metastatic breast cancer, also called “stage four” breast cancer, means that the cancer has spread, or metastasized, beyond the breasts to other parts of the body. There is technically no cure, but advancements in treatments can dramatically improve outcomes and that is something to be hopeful for.

Supporting a friend or loved one with cancer can be hard. SurvivorNet suggests offering concrete ways to show the cancer warrior you care, allowing them to talk through their negative emotions with you, cooking them a healthy meal that they’ll enjoy, doing activities with them that will lift their spirits and working to better understand their diagnosis if you’re taking on more of a full-time caregiver role.

We’ve all heard that nature has healing powers in the past. SurvivorNetTV’s “Between Two Harbors” looks into how time spent outdoors and around water can truly help people to recover after dealing with difficult cancer treatments.

Going through a cancer journey with loved ones by your side can be a powerful tool when fighting cancer. So, it’s great to see Shannen Doherty, 52, spending time with her supportive 76-year-old mom, Rosa Elizabeth Doherty, as she battles metastatic breast cancer.

Doherty, known for playing Brenda Walsh on “Beverly Hills, 90210” and as Prue Halliwell on “Charmed,” has been battling stage 4 (metastatic) breast cancer since 2019 and revealed earlier this year that cancer had spread to her brain. Despite the challenges she’s faced, including getting divorces from her estranged husband Kurt Iswarienko, the iconic actress always enjoys quality time with her mom.

(@theshando/Instagram)

Doherty shared a heartwarming photo this week of her with her mom, Rosa Elizabeth Doherty, enjoying the outdoors and wearing hats representing Nashville and Tennessee. We’re delighted to see “Mama Rosa” alongside her daughter throughout her ongoing battle with metastatic breast cancer. “Tennessee girls,” Doherty captioned the post, which featured the Memphis, Tennessee, native standing close to her mom. Other photos she shared revealed they were near bulls, haystacks, an open grass field, and even a zebra.

As for the hat Doherty was wearing, it reads, “Leiper’s Fork – Nashville’s Big Back Yard.” Leiper’s Fork is a rural village in Williamson County, Tennessee.

Along side the scenery photo, which Doherty also shared on her Instagram story, the “Charmed” star confirmed the photos were taken in Tennessee, writing on her story, “Awe Tennessee. Forever have my heart.”

(@theshando/Instagram)

According to one of Doherty’s fans, there are Zebras on a nearby farm in Tennessee. The fan commented, “Yes, not far from Leiper’s Fork is a farm that has a couple of zebras that run around!”

Another fan replied, “I looked it up after and saw there is a little safari park area there. Looks nice!”

Other fans of Doherty offered some inspirational words, with one commenting, “I think of you almost daily. Profound strength in the face of cancer. You amaze me!”While a fourth wrote, “Ae so lovely. Mommy & Daughter. Enjoy your precious time together. You deserve all the HAPPINESS Shannen. Love you!!”

(@theshando/Instagram)

This isn’t the first time Doherty has taken to social media to share some sweet memories made with her mom. Back in August, 2022, Doherty shared a sweet video clip of her dancing with her mom at home, with the captioned, “How to man handle your mother.”

Then, on Mother’s Day last year, Doherty shared another image of her and her mom alongside each other, writing, “Happy Mother’s Day to this amazing, strong, loving mom. I love you so much @themamarosa see you soon mom!”

More recently, on her mom’s 76th birthday on December 4, 2023, Doherty shared yet another heartwarming photo of the mother-daughter duo saying, “Happy birthday to the best mom in the world. I love you to the moon and back times infinity.”

(@theshando/Instagram)

The Power of Nature

We’ve all heard that nature has healing powers in the past. SurvivorNetTV’s “Between Two Harbors” looks into how time spent outdoors and around water can truly help people to recover after dealing with difficult cancer treatments.

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Shannen Doherty’s Breast Cancer Battle

Shannen Doherty first received a breast cancer diagnosis in 2015 after she discovered a lump in her breast. For treatments the first time around, she underwent hormone therapy, a single mastectomy (the removal of all breast tissue from one breast), chemotherapy and radiation.

Then in 2017, Doherty was deemed to be in remission, however, the cancer returned just two years later in 2019. This time, her diagnosis was metastatic, or stage four, breast cancer.

Shannen Doherty originally made a name for herself playing Brenda Walsh on ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’

There is technically no cure for metastatic breast cancer, but that doesn’t mean people can’t live good, long lives with this stage of disease, thanks to hormone therapy, chemotherapy, targeted drugs and immunotherapy, as well as a combination of treatments.

Doherty took to Instagram at the start of last year to recap how her cancer fight is going. She underwent her first round of radiation to her head on Jan. 12, 2023, followed by brain surgery to remove and biopsy a tumor on Jan. 16, 2023. The surgery she underwent is called a craniotomy.

“It’s a procedure to cut out a tumor and it can be metastasized or a tumor that started someplace else like the breasts and went to the brain especially if the tumor is causing symptoms or if it’s large,” Dr. Kimberly Hoang, a board-certified neurosurgeon at Emory University School of Medicine, explained.

Several neurosurgeons tell SurvivorNet that the procedure can allow patients with cancer in their brain to live longer, more vibrant lives, and this appears to be the case with Doherty seen smiling this weekend during her mom’s birthday celebrations.

“A couple of decades ago, to have a brain metastasis was a very bad prognosis for patients. They didn’t live for more than a couple of months, so it was a very terminal thing. Thanks to a lot of advancements in microsurgery we do and radiation, patients are living longer,” Dr. Hoang said.

Being There for Cancer Survivors

It is important cancer warriors in the midst of their fight to have a strong support system. So how can you support a loved on in your life who is fighting cancer? SurvivorNet suggests multiple ways you can do so.

Dr. Shelly Tworoger, a researcher at Moffitt Cancer Center told SurvivorNet that “there’s a number of common things cancer patients can experience, such as anxiety, depression, financial toxicity, social isolation and sometimes even PTSD.”

So helping to ease those feelings is a great way to support your loved one.

You can help complete household chores or running errands during the day, which your loved one may not have the time or energy to do. Or, you can simply lend an ear so patients can talk through their feelings, which can help them cope with what they are experiencing during this difficult time.

Meanwhile, there are some practical tips to help you interact with your loved one in a meaningful way. Our experts suggest to avoid asking “how you can help.” Instead, be proactive and offer tangible things you can do for them to make their lives easier. That could include bringing them food, cooking them dinner or playing a board game with them, anything that will bring them joy.

You may also be interested in sending them gifts to help them through their cancer journey. Our gift guide for cancer patients offers several suggestions for meaningful items you can give your loved one, such as bubble bath supplies for a night of self care or a nice, warm blanket for comfort during a chemo session.

Five Ways You Can Support Someone with Cancer

No matter what role you play, it can be very tough to know what to do when someone you care about is diagnosed with cancer. To help get you started, below are some ways to offer support to your loved ones with cancer.

Avoid asking, try doing. Although it’s understandable to not know how to best support your loved one during their cancer journey, it can be equally as hard for them to voice exactly what they need or want from you. Instead of always asking, “How can I help you?” maybe try saying something more concrete like, “Hey, can I come over at 8? I’ll bring Monopoly.” If you offer specific ways to support rather than ask for things they need, it’s likely to come across as more genuine and feel easier for them to accept the support or help.

Stay in touch, but don’t say stupid things. You might never be able to truly understand the battle your loved one is facing, but being a person they feel comfortable talking through some of their negative emotions with can make a big difference. That being said, breast cancer survivor Catherine Gigante-Brown says there are some topics you might want to avoid.” Don’t burden us with stories about your Great Aunt Harriet who had breast cancer,” she previously told SurvivorNet. “And then you say, ‘Oh how’s she doing? And then they’ll say, ‘Oh, she passed away.’ We don’t need to hear the horror stories.”

Offer to cook them a meal. Consider inviting them over for dinner, dropping off a special dish, or, if that’s not possible, sending a gift basket with some pick-me-up goodies. If you’ re able to cook for them, perhaps try to make a healthy meal that will bring them joy. Remember that there’s no specialized diet that has been found to fight cancer, but it’s always a good idea to maintain a moderate diet with lots of fruits and vegetables, as well as fats and proteins. No matter what, it’s the simple gesture of providing a meal that will make them feel loved and supported.

Try helping them find joy. There’s no one right way to do it, but try to think of activities you can do with your loved one that will lift them up. It could be something as simple as watching a funny TV series together, having a wine and paint night, taking a drive to a beautiful place or starting a book club with them. We’ve seen in previous studies that patients with better emotional health have a better quality of life when going through treatment and actually tend to live longer than those with worse emotional well-being. Dr. Dana Chase, a gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology, says “better quality of life is associated with better survival, better outcomes, and having a good social network can be very helpful.”

Be involved. If you’ve take on more of a full-time caregiving role, work to understand your loved one’s diagnosis and help them follow the instructions from the cancer-care team. “I encourage caregivers to come in to visits with my patients, because in that way, the caregiver is also listening to the recommendations – what should be done in between these visits, any changes in treatment plans, any toxicities [side effects] that we need to look out for, changes in dietary habits, exercise, etc.,” Dr. Jayanthi Lea, a gynecologic oncologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet.

The Benefit of Emotional Support

Having a level of emotional support, like Doherty has from her beloved mom, during a cancer battle is irreplaceable. For those of us lucky enough to still have our mothers and close family members with us, we may want to pick up the phone and remind them how special they are.

Going through cancer can be difficult at almost every stage and so understanding how to mange the flood of emotions that come with diagnosis and treatment is important.

Whether or not you have a support system at home, it may be a good idea to seek counseling when dealing with a cancer diagnosis. Often you can find a social worker through your cancer center, and they can help you through this process. It’s exceptionally important to remember to take care of your mental health, as well as your physical.Social Worker Sarah Stapleton suggested in an earlier conversation with SurvivorNet doing two to three counseling sessions before making the decision if it is, or isn’t, right for you. Going to counseling with a spouse, friend, or family member can be equally, if not even more, beneficial.

Moms & Supportive Family Through Cancer

Like actress Shannen Doherty, many people find that spending time with loved ones, like their parents, partners, or children, is helpful during a cancer battle. In an earlier interview, ovarian cancer survivor Beverly Reeves stresses how critical it is to have a supportive, loving community guiding you during your cancer battle.Reeves tells SurvivorNet, “If I had one piece of advice for someone who had just been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, it would be to get a strong support group together. Get your close friends. If you’re connected to a faith community, get your faith community.” 

Every Sunday, for ShandoSunday, because it's the 1st year since Shannen left us, I'll be sharing more articles about her, how she inspired others when she suffered breast cancer. This is the first one, there's a bunch of them.

Published Jul 16, 2024

‘Stage Four Needs More’: Metastatic Breast Cancer Requires Dramatically More Research Investment Say Advocates Mourning ‘90210’ Actress Shannen Doherty Battled

Living With Metastatic Breast Cancer

90% of woman with breast cancer are living thanks to early detection and new treatments. Despite the progress, metastatic, or breast cancer that has spread in the body, is still incurable.

The actress Shannen Doherty passed over the weekend from late stage breast cancer at age 53. Her passing is another reminder that there is still so much more progress needed on metastatic breast cancer research.

Doherty battled breast cancer since 2015. Although the cancer went into remission in 2017, it returned as stage 4 cancer in 2019, meaning it has spread to other body parts, including her brain. She underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor last year. She embarked on a new round of chemotherapy prior to her passing over the weekend.

Dr. Kenneth D. Miller, medical oncologist at the Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, tells SurvivorNet, “Metastatic breast cancer is a treatable disease. 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.’ Still, this type of breast cancer is incurable and needs dramatically more research and much better options for women.”

While treatment for metastatic breast cancer is not curative, it can improve your quality of life. You and your doctor will work together to develop a treatment plan that’s right for you.

For help finding a clinical trial that’s right for you, try our easy-to-use Clinical Trial Finder.

As we mourn the loss of resilient ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ actress Shannen Doherty, who passed away over the weekend from late stage breast cancer at age 53, we’re reminded how there’s still so much more progress needed on metastatic breast cancer research.

Doherty battled breast cancer since 2015. Although the cancer went into remission in 2017, it came back as stage four metastatic breast cancer in 2019, meaning it has spread to other body parts, including her brain. She underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor last year and started a new round of chemotherapy treatment this summer before she passed.

Although much has been done in the fight against breast cancer, a falsehood exists that the disease has solved—as there’s still no known cure for metastatic breast cancer, a late-stage form of the disease in which cancer cells have spread past the breast to other organs in the body. Thankfully, organizations like METAvivor, is dedicated to funding research for stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, and TNBC Thrivers, an organization supporting those in the triple negative breast cancer community.

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Another month without her :( This was what Time published when she passed away, just found it recently but it's beautiful so I wanted to share it:

Remembering Shannen Doherty, the Quintessential Gen X Girl

Shannen Doherty in 2002SGranitz/WireImage via Getty Images

By Judy Berman — July 14, 2024 9:35 AM EDT

Shannen Doherty epitomized the experience of growing up female in the ’90s. Like her iconic Beverly Hills, 90210 character, Brenda Walsh, she contained a volatile mix of Gen X angst, teen fragility and feminist grit. She thrived as a porcelain-skinned, dark-haired drama queen in a world of tan, blonde valley girls, and owned her identity as an angry young woman before Courtney Love and Elizabeth Wurtzel made it a trend. She wasn’t for everyone, but that was part of her appeal.

Celebrity was not always kind to Doherty, who died on July 13at age 53 after a nine-year struggle with breast cancer. Though she’d been acting professionally for a decade when Fox’s 90210 debuted in 1990, the actor rocketed to full-on fame as the pioneering teen soap about social politics at West Beverly High slowly rose in the ratings. Tabloids sank their fangs into the young, photogenic cast, slotting Doherty—who was still 19 when the show premiered—into the role of villain. Called out for her partying, her tumultuous romantic relationships and her reportedly imperious behavior on set, she was let go from the long-running drama after four seasons.

“I was 21 years old, trying to grow up and figure out who I was,” Doherty explained to TIME in 1998. “I didn’t consciously think, ‘Maybe I should be real low-key and stay in my house.’ Instead I was like, ‘I’m 21 and I can go out and have a great time and experience the whole college life.’” In retrospect, the typically self-aware actor concluded that she had made herself an “easy target.” With the hindsight of a few additional decades, it also seems clear that the media had been excessively hard on a young woman coming of age in front of paparazzi flashbulbs.

Despite producer Aaron Spelling and creator Darren Star’s attempts to replace Brenda with other brunette troublemakers, the show was never the same without Doherty. 90210’s teenage characters had begun their lives as antiquated teen-movie stereotypes: Brenda’s twin brother, Brandon, was the all-American golden boy; Kelly, the pretty queen bee; Steve, the fratty bro; Donna, the sweetheart; David, the annoying little brother. Luke Perry’s motorcycle-riding bad boy was James Dean with a trust fund. Doherty was the first to make her character—conceived as a self-conscious Midwestern transplant—into something more authentic and contemporary.

Infused with Doherty’s preternatural fire, Brenda became a moody brat, yes, but also an earnest romantic who channeled her overabundance of feelings into a love affair with theater. Her self-righteous smirk, withering glare and wide, mischievous grin captured the emotional extremes of adolescence to an extent that words could never quite express. In the early ’90s, after a decade that saw a massive right-wing backlash to the gains of second-wave feminism, America was waking up to the rage of a new generation of women. Not long after 90210 emerged, female-dominated punk bands like L7, Bikini Kill and Hole stormed the rock mainstream—and Doherty’s performance began to look not just inspired, but also prescient.

Those girl-power undertones didn’t stop Brenda from battling Kelly (Jennie Garth, also rumored to be Doherty’s biggest behind-the-scenes rival) for Dylan in one of the show’s most memorable storylines. When she lost her virginity with him at the end of Season 1, local affiliates blasted the producers over the consequence-free depiction of teen sex. Looking back on the characters’ relationship in a 2008 interview with the New York Times, Doherty recalled “how messed up, sometimes, it could be, but ultimately there was love between them, and then eventually they grew apart.” For her, their romance was a funny, ultimately humane tale of a girl trying too hard to become the person she thinks her boyfriend wants her to be. “It’s kind of a good lesson,” she noted, “just be yourself and be comfortable in your own skin.” Four decades in Hollywood seemed to have led the actor, who was open about her mistakes, to a similar conclusion.

Born in Memphis, Tenn. on April 12, 1971, Doherty lived below the Mason-Dixon line for long enough to absorb Southern Baptist values fostered by her mother Rosa’s side of the family. When she was six, her parents moved Shannen and her older brother, Sean, to Los Angeles, where her father, Tom, had bought a trucking company. Though their fortunes fluctuated throughout her childhood, she soon discovered her talent for acting in a church production of Snow White. In 1982, the same year she voiced Teresa Brisby in the animated classic The Secret of NIMH, she nabbed the role of Jenny Wilder in Little House on the Prairie. “That show changed my life,” Doherty told People in a 1992 cover story, recalling the advice its executive producer and star Michael Landon gave her: “Always stick up for yourself. Never let anybody walk all over you.”

By the mid-’80s, Doherty had aged into the decade’s booming teen culture, racking up Young Artist Award nominations for roles in long-forgotten shows like Our House, as well as starring in the silly flick Girls Just Want to Have Fun alongside Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt. Viewers got their first glimpse of her mean-girl swagger in 1989’s Heathers, the cult black comedy that cast her as one of three identically named preppies who rule their high school with manicured fists. A wickedly funny funeral scene finds Doherty’s Heather Duke, decked out in a big hat and opera gloves, grinning beatifically as she thanks Jesus for the death of her friend.

For better or worse, it was 90210 that defined her public life after 1990, spawning anti-fanzines and punk singles that proclaimed their hatred of Brenda and earning Doherty a “difficult” reputation that she never lived down. But she did have fun with her image in the indie movies she made after leaving the show; Doherty is incandescent as an aggrieved girlfriend in Kevin Smith’s Mallrats and hilarious in a brief role as a day-glo ditz in Gregg Araki’s Nowhere.

Controversy followed her to the WB’s Charmed, a breezy supernatural drama also produced by Spelling, where for three seasons beginning in 1998 she turned in feisty performances as the eldest of three unfeasibly attractive witch sisters. Amid reports of clashes with co-star Alyssa Milano, Doherty’s character was killed off and Rose McGowan signed on to replace her.

Doherty was in and out of the spotlight after that, appearing in the short-lived 2004 Fox soap North Shore and, two years later, hosting an Oxygen reality show called Breaking Up With Shannen Doherty, in which she helped wannabe singles dump their significant others. Despite her abrupt exit from Beverly Hills, the franchise came calling again in 2008, with the CW reboot 90210. And she agreed to reprise the role of Brenda—now a famous stage actor—in a guest arc. “I didn’t want it to be like she was still stuck in high school with the same attitude,” Doherty told the Times in 2008, explaining that she had vetted the producers’ new vision for Brenda to ensure that the character had evolved. “Although I don’t think Brenda was mean, she reacted to the things that were happening around her, and she reacted as a teenager does.”

Following brief marriages to Ashley Hamilton (the son of George Hamilton) in 1993 and Rick Salomon (the poker pro best known for co-starring in Paris Hilton’s sex tape) in 2002, Doherty settled down with photographer Kurt Iswarienko in 2011; WE tv reality show Shannen Says chronicled their wedding preparations. Yet tragedy struck in 2015, when Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a brief remission, she revealed on Good Morning America in February 2020 that her cancer was back and she’d been living with a stage 4 diagnosis for a year. “I don’t think that I’ve processed it yet. It’s a bitter pill to swallow,” she said in the tearful interview. “There are definitely days where I say, ‘Why me?’ And then I go, ‘Well, why not me? Who else?’” Still going strong that fall, Doherty reflected on her life with unprecedented vulnerability in a widely read Elle profile. After an honest internal reckoning, she explained, “what I came out with was, I have good karma. It may not seem like it, but I’ve been a really good human being.”

Doherty got a final opportunity to revisit Brenda Walsh—and prove she could laugh at herself—in 2019’s deeply self-aware BH90210, a silly but mostly fun meta-revival on Fox that had the original cast playing exaggerated versions of themselves. In storylines caricatured from real life, Shannen was the free-spirited, post-fame holdout, and the one whose paycheck was the envy of her castmates. On Entertainment Tonight, Doherty explained that she’d decided to participate as a tribute to Luke Perry, who had died following a stroke that March. “Replaying Brenda was something I said I wouldn't do twice and I've replayed her now twice, so I guess I could never say I'm never going to do something again because I end up doing it,” she said. “As [Perry’s] on-set family, I felt like it was an important time for all of us to come together to honor him.”