William Shatner is opening up about just how close his stage 4 melanoma diagnosis came to be dismissed entirely. The “Star Trek” actor said it was a second opinion that saved his life.
A Second Opinion That Changed Everything
Appearing on CBS Mornings this week, Shatner recalled first noticing a lump and bringing it to his family doctor who dismissed it as a blocked salivary gland. He said that as soon as he visited another doctor for a second opinion, the urgency of the matter changed immediately.
“[The doctor] said, ‘You better get this out,’ just like that,” Shatner said. According to a report by OK Magazine, he immediately underwent surgery to remove the lump.
“[The cancer] had spread to my brain. There were little points of light in my brain and little points of light, I think, in my lung,” he explained. “Stage four.”
Shatner was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma in June 2023 and underwent two years of immunotherapy. According to a report by Today, the first time that Shatner spoke publicly about his diagnosis was when he was asked to give a keynote address at the American Academy of Dermatologists’ annual conference in March 2024.
It seems like Shatner is certainly taking ‘live long and prosper’ seriously. He was resolute and faced the diagnosis without fear. “[The doctors] said, ‘You got cancer. If you came in later, you would have been dead.’ See? That’s my life. I think the universe is taking care of me,” Shatner said.
Battling Cancer With His Daughter, Melanie
The father-daughter duo also recently opened up about battling cancer at the same time. Shatner’s daughter, Melanie Shatner Gretsch, 61, was diagnosed with breast cancer that later spread to the lymph nodes in her chest.
“I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,'” Gretsch recalled. She was diagnosed before Shatner was and was in treatment when her father received the news.
On Wednesday, July 22, Shatner and his daughter officially closed their chapter of active treatment and remain in remission together. Though they have closed the chapter, they have reflected on what it was like to go through the same type of traumatic health diagnosis at the same time.
Gretsch recalled a moment during her chemotherapy when she was “hysterical.” “I called [my dad] and said, ‘I think I’m dying,” she told People in an extended interview about their joint health battle.
Shatner was the picture of support, Gretsch reflected. “He said, ‘This is going to be a blip in your life. You’re going to get through this, and it’ll be a memory.'”
Both say of the experience that it has given them a new outlook on life. Now, Shatner especially appreciates finding joy in the smallest moments. “He gets more joy out of seeing a bird fly past his window and is more aware, and has taught my sisters and I to be so aware of the sunrise and the blue sky,” Gretsch said.
Shatner added that the weight of life itself feels different given his health scares. “I find myself driving my car and I’m smiling about it,” he said. “It’s these miracles of life. If you let them go by, you lose your joy of living.”
