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'MY CANCER CAME BACK'
SHANNEN Doherty tearfully revealed she is dealing with stage IV breast cancer - five years after beating the disease.
The 48-year-old actress gave a candid interview about her condition on Good Morning America on Tuesday.
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"It's going to come out in a matter of days or a week that -- I'm stage four," she said in the emotional interview.
"So my cancer came back. And that's why I'm here ... I don't think I've processed it.
"I definitely have days where I say why me. And then I go, well, why not me? Who else? Who else besides me deserves this? None of us do.
"But I would say that my first reaction is always concern about how -- how am I going to tell my mom, my husband."
After being in remission for a number of years, Shannen bravely admitted it was a "bitter pill to swallow in a lot of ways."
Shannen was first diagnosed with the aggressive disease back in 2015 and has been open about her ongoing struggle with it.
The Charmed star decided to speak out about her illness due to a "horrific" legal battle with insurance company State Farm.
STAGE 4 BREAST CANCER
What does this diagnosis mean?
BREAST cancer is one of the most common forms of the disease to affect women.
It is the second most deadly cancer in women, after lung cancer - but men can be diagnosed too.
Like with most cancers, catch it early and you increase your chance of surviving.
Signs to watch out for include:
- a lump or thickening in your breast or armpit
- change in size, shape or feel of your breast
- skin changes such as puckering, dimpling, a rash or redness
- fluid or discharge leaking from your nipple when you're not pregnant or breastfeeding
- changes in the position of the nipple
- breast pain
After you're diagnosed doctors will try to work out if the disease has spread.
This process is called staging, and the stage determines how advanced the cancer is.
Stage IV breast cancer means the disease has spread out of the breast, to other parts of the body.
It's also known as advanced cancer, secondary breast cancer, or metatstatic breast cancer.
Catch breast cancer in the earliest stages and the five-year survival rate is around 98 per cent, according to Cancer Research UK.
But catch it in the latest stages and that chance falls to just 25 per cent.
Shannen said the dispute relates to her home which was practically destroyed by the California wildfires in 2018.
She said pursuing the case against State Farm was one of the most difficult decisions as she struggles with her illness.
She explained her breast cancer battle would have come out in the court documents and she wanted to "control the narrative."
In the meantime, she decided to go ahead with the 90210 reboot four months after the death of her co-star Luke Perry.
Shannen said she wanted to prove "life doesn't end the minute we get that diagnosis. We still have some living to do."
Her pal and fellow 90210 star Brian Austin Green helped her to cope on the bad days when it all became too much, she said.
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As well as the traumatic diagnosis, the actress claims she was forced to pay out of pocket for wildfire damage State Farm should have covered.
State Farm say they paid nearly $1.1 million for repairs to Shannen's home, her personal property, temporary place to live, and furniture rental.
The company told ABC they empathized with Shannen's health crisis but would "defend our position in court." The Sun contacted them for comment.
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