William Shatner and his daughter battled stage 4 cancer at the same time
TV icon William Shatner has opened up about how he and his daughter, Melanie Shatner Gretsch, faced cancer at the same time.
The father-daughter duo bared their story in PEOPLE Magazine's latest cover story.
Melanie was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer (metastatic) in 2022 after discovering a lump in the middle of the night. Over the next year, she went through chemotherapy, 30 rounds of therapy treatments, and had a double mastectomy.
"Chemo was the most physically draining, and the radiation I found so emotionally draining," she told the entertainment outlet.
Metastatic breast cancer means the cancer has spread to other organs. The five-year survival rate for those diagnosed is 31%, according to the American Cancer Society.
In June 2023, William, 95, was diagnosed with stage 4 malignant melanoma after he found a lump on his cheek, which a family doctor initially dismissed. A plastic surgeon later told him to have the tumor on his face removed, and he underwent two years of immunotherapy to target the cancer that spread in his lungs and brain.
"We got the perfect doctors for her and my cancer," William said of their treatment journey.
According to the US National Library of Medicine, the five-year survival rate for patients with stage 4 melanoma, a kind of skin cancer, is 30%.
The family remained close as they navigated their battle with cancer. At one point in 2023, Melanie called her father in the middle of the night, as she was "having a moment."
"I called you, and I said, 'I think I'm dying,'" she said.
Not long after, William rushed to her home. "He gave me, what I think of ever since I was a little girl, a 'daddy bear hug.' 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," Melanie shared.
The actor described his family's relationship as "very together." "We're bonded by all kinds of difficulties that we overcame. And who knows what else we're going to overcome," he said.
And indeed, they overcame. William and Melanie were declared cancer-free in late 2024.
"It was the third time in my life I had heard him cry," Melanie said about sharing the news.
William is known for starring as Captain Kirk in Star Trek. He has also appeared in several films and TV shows, including Miss Congeniality, DodgeBall, Boston Legal, The Twilight Zone, Columbo, The Big Bang Theory, and Masters of the Universe: Revolution.
Melanie also joined show business, starring in the Subspecies film series.
Most recently, the father-daughter duo launched a podcast titled No Time but Now.