William Shatner and his daughter have officially closed one of the hardest chapters of their lives together. Shatner, 95, and Melanie Shatner Gretsch, 61, both have no evidence of disease and remain in remission after facing stage 4 diagnoses within a year of each other, the pair revealed in an exclusive interview with People published on Wednesday, June 22.
GettyMelanie was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer at 60 in 2022 after discovering a lump, and about a year later, just as she neared the end of her own treatment, Shatner learned he had stage 4 melanoma that had spread to his lungs and brain.
The Diagnosis He Refused to Let Shake Him
“I went to an oncologist, and they operated almost immediately with stage 4 melanoma,” he told People. Despite the severity of his diagnosis, Melanie said her father never let it rattle him. “His response was like, ‘I’m gonna be fine,'” she recalled.
According to the National Cancer Institute, stage 4 melanoma means the cancer has spread from its original site to distant parts of the body. In contrast, stage 4 breast cancer, also known as metastatic breast cancer, has spread beyond the breast and nearby lymph nodes to distant organs.
Historically, stage 4 melanoma carried a median survival time of under a year, though major advances in immunotherapy over the past decade have significantly improved outcomes for patients like Shatner.
The 3 a.m. Call That Brought Her Father Running
Shatner’s support mattered most during one especially frightening night in the middle of Melanie’s chemotherapy. Convinced she was dying, she called her father in hysterics.
“I was having a moment and was hysterical,” Melanie recalled in People’s cover story. “I called you and said, ‘I think I’m dying.’”
She heard him getting out of bed before he told her he was coming. Fifteen minutes later, he was standing in her driveway. “He gave me, what I think of ever since I was a little girl, a ‘daddy bear hug,’” she said. “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.’”
Reflecting on the strength of their family, Shatner said, “We’re in a very together family. We’re bonded by all kinds of difficulties that we overcame. And who knows what else we’re going to overcome.”
How Cancer Changed the Way They See the World
GettyBoth say the experience left them seeing everyday life differently. Melanie described watching her father find delight in the smallest things now: a bird passing his window, the color of the sky, a sunrise, lessons he’s passed down to her and her sisters.
“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,” she said.
Shatner feels it too. Even something as routine as driving catches him off guard now. “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.”
For Melanie, the shift is simple. “It changed my life, all for the better,” she said.
Read their full interview with People here.
