Actor William Shatner and his daugther, Melanie Shatner Gretsch, both battled Stage 4 cancer together at the same time, with both living to tell the harrowing tale.
The father-daughter due spoke about their health struggle in an interview with People. According to Melanie, doctors diagnosed her with Stage 4 cancer at age 61 in 2022 after she discovered a lump in her breast. Just one year after Melanie’s diagnosis, Shatner, at the age 95, learned he had Stage 4 melanoma that spread to his lungs and brain.
After multiple rounds of chemo, a double mastectomy, and 30 radiation treatments, Melanie finally became cancer-free roughly a year and a half later. She admitted to fearing most for her father’s life at the time.
“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 People.
The Star Trek icon under underwent two years of immunotherapy to battle the cancer in his lungs and brain after removing a tumor he discovered on his cheek.
“We got the perfect doctors for her cancer and my cancer,” Shatner said.
Melanie praised her dad’s persistence, adding that he “kept working and moving forward” throughout the harrowing journey to recovery.
“Whenever he was home, Joel [Melanie’s husband] and I would bring dinner to him and watch movies, just always made sure that he’s not alone,” she said.
Shatner also assured his daughter that she would not have to pay for her treatment, 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,” Melanie said. “You said, ‘You’ve got to get well. We’re going to be in the poorhouse!’”
The interview came as Melanie and her dad launch a new podcast called No Time but Now wherein they will talk with health experts and 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 said. “But it’s also possible to endure that and be aware of the beauty around you.”