Danielle Fishel thanks fans for support following breast cancer diagnosis
Danielle Fishel is thanking her fans for their kind words after sharing her breast cancer diagnosis earlier this week.
Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, the "Boy Meets World" alum said, "I wanted to do a quick video to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, and from my entire family, for the enormous outpouring of love and support and encouragement you have sent me since I announced my breast cancer diagnosis."
"I absolutely only talked about it publicly because I know how unbelievably important it is, in my case, that I found my cancer when I did, and I found it very early," she continued, adding that her cancer is "non-invasive and stage 0."
Fishel shared on Monday's episode of her podcast "Pod Meets World" that she had been recently diagnosed with high-grade ductal carcinoma in situ -- or DCIS -- with microinvasion, and that it had been caught "very, very, very early" and was "technically stage 0."
Also in the podcast, the actress said she would have surgery to remove it along with "some follow-up treatment," but reassured fans that she is "going to be fine."
In Tuesday's video, re-upping her earlier podcast call for followers to not put off being screened for cancer, Fishel said the only reason doctors found her cancer early was "because I prioritized myself into making sure I got a mammogram."
"I know how important that is now firsthand, so I wanted to pass along that message," she said.
Fishel said since revealing her cancer diagnosis she's had "so many" people say they made mammogram appointments for themselves or "pressured your mother to make her mammogram appointment or your best friend to make her mammogram appointment."
The actress also sent a message to men, saying her advice "isn't just women-specific."
"Men, stay on top of your testing as well," she continued. "If you have those yearly exams that you're supposed to be getting, go and get them. Nobody ever wants to get news, 'Hey, your test results were abnormal.' Nobody wants that."
"But if you've stayed on top of it, hopefully, God willing, you can find out you have something when it is stage 0 like I did," she concluded her video message. "I just really wanted to say thank you so much for the love and support. I appreciate it more than you could ever know."
In addition to her fans' support, Fishel has her husband, Jensen Karp, with whom she shares two sons, in her corner.
After Fishel shared her cancer diagnosis on Monday, Karp shared an Instagram story praising his wife.
"I'm so proud of @daniellefishel for using her platform to raise awareness," he said at the time. "She's the strongest person I've ever met. She's got this."
In the comments section of her new Instagram video, Karp added, "So proud of you spreading the word. Always selfless."
