"She too was told, 'Pack your bag, you've got five months at the most,'" Shatner tells USA TODAY of the prognosis he and daughter Melanie received. "So it was the two of us."Show Caption
William Shatner and his youngest daughter Melanie Shatner Gretsch weathered one of life's toughest challenges together: simultaneous cancer diagnoses.The "Star Trek" icon, 95, tells USA TODAY that he battled Stage 4 malignant melanoma while his daughter Melanie, now 61, fought Stage 4 breast cancer three years ago.Shatner says his health challenges started in June 2023 after a lump formed on his cheek, which continued to grow."My family doctor says we've got to get this out. And it was a stage-four malignancy. Ten years ago, I would have been dead," Shatner says. "Imagine going into your doctor's office, and he says, 'Pack your bags, you have got five months to live. It's stage-four melanoma.'"Around the same time, Shatner's youngest, Melanie, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer."She, too, was told, 'Pack your bag, you've got five months at the most,'" Shatner recalls. "So it was the two of us.""Can you imagine being told you've got five months to live?" he continues. "I don't know what your motivations are, or what you'd want to do first, but to be told you've only got five months to live? And part of that time you're going to be very ill. What are you going to do?"Though Shatner's cancer spread to his lungs and brain, he is now on the other side of the health battle after undergoing surgery and two years of immunotherapy. He says his daughter has also recovered from the cancer scare."We're cancer-free," says Shatner.In a joint interview with People, Melanie said of the time, "I remember vividly thinking, ‘I don’t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time.'"On July 29, the father-daughter duo is launching a new weekly podcast series titled "No Time But Now," where they interview health experts and other survivors, including end-of-life advocate Alua Arthur, Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton, “The King of Chemo” Ian Ward, "Dying to Be Me"author Anita Moorjani and pioneering nutrition researcher Dr. William Li.Besides Melanie, Shatner shares daughters Leslie Shatner, 67, and Lisabeth Shatner, 65, with late actress Gloria Rand.
