William Shatner and his daughter Melanie Shatner are shedding light on their battles with stage IV cancer — which they fought at the same time.
Melanie, 61, was undergoing chemotherapy for stage IV breast cancer in June 2023 when William, 95, was diagnosed with stage IV malignant melanoma, which spread to his lungs and brain.
“I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,’” Melanie told People in an interview published on Wednesday, July 22.
William, meanwhile, remained positive while going through his own treatment. “They said, ‘You got cancer. If you came in later, you would have been dead,’” he said. “See? That’s my life. I think the universe is taking care of me.”
Melanie initially discovered a lump on her breast one year before her father’s diagnosis.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, and my finger moved up right beneath my breast. I felt a little bump and thought, ‘It’s just a bug bite,’” she recalled, noting she had a clear mammogram five months earlier.
Melanie got imaging done the next day just to be safe, adding, “Something pushed me back and said, ‘No, have her recheck it.’ She put the wand exactly where I put my finger and under her breath said, ‘Now, I would have missed that.’”
Melanie’s HER2-positive breast cancer spread to lymph nodes in her chest. William, for his part, was “devastated” to learn about his daughter’s health battle.
“She was very conscious of the importance of her life for herself and for her family,” he said.
William ultimately took on the cost of Melanie’s cancer treatment.
“You said to me, ‘I do not want you to worry. Just send me the bills,’” she shared. “Then you made me laugh so hard when I was still going to the doctor a year later. You said, ‘You’ve got to get well. We’re going to be in the poorhouse!’”
Melanie underwent multiple rounds of chemo with HER2-targeted therapies, a double mastectomy and 30 radiation therapy treatments.
“Chemo was the most physically draining, and the radiation I found so emotionally draining,” she added.
During her treatment, Melanie noticed a lump on her dad’s cheek.
“I went to the family doctor, and he said, ‘It’s your salivary gland. It’s blocked. Just massage it,’” William recalled about the mass, which continued to grow.
William later underwent surgery to remove the tumor on his face, which was followed by two years of immunotherapy to target the cancer in his lungs and brain.
“We got the perfect doctors for her cancer and my cancer,” William continued.
William and Melanie were both declared cancer-free in late 2024.
“It was the third time in my life I had heard him cry,” Melanie said, while her dad added, “I’m healthier now than I’ve been in years. The brain is like a muscle. It feeds on activity.”
After their individual health scares, Melanie and William each have a different outlook on mortality.
“I do think you’re going to outlive me, but I have always thought if you go first, then I won’t be afraid because you’ll be the one to be there for me when I go,” Melanie told William, who quipped, “It’s a huge responsibility.”
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