Boy Meets World alumna Danielle Fishel has revealed she has been diagnosed with early breast cancer.
“I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer,” she told listeners on Monday’s episode of her Pod Meets World podcast.
“It is very, very, very early,” the actress continued. “It’s technically stage zero. To be specific, I was diagnosed with high-grade DCIS with micro-invasion. And I’m going to be fine. I’m having surgery to remove it. I’m going to be on some follow-up treatment. I’ve had to make a lot of decisions over the last couple of days.”
Fishel said she decided to share her diagnosis publicly because she felt she could help others by encouraging others to take care of their health and stay on top of their mammogram appointments.
“I want to share this because I hope that it will encourage anyone to get in there,” she said. “If it’s time for your appointment, if you’ve never had an appointment before, get in there. If you have to find out that you have cancer, find out when it’s at stage zero, if possible.”
Fishel was first cast as Topanga Matthews at the age of 12 as a recurring actor in Season 1 of Boy Meets World, then was promoted to series regular for Season 2. She went on to star on all seven seasons of the ABC series, then went on to reprise the role in Girl Meets World from 2014-2017. She also recurred on Gravity Falls, and most recently directed episodes of Lopez vs. Lopez, Raven’s Home and Sydney to the Max, among others.