Danielle Fishel is getting candid about how breast cancer has affected her life so far — and what her future may look like.
It’s like, ‘Wow. Even for cancer that was found at stage 0, my whole life has changed,’ ” the Boy Meets World alum, 43, told PEOPLE Monday, Oct. 28, at the Los Angeles premiere of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, where she was celebrated for directing several episodes.
“My life has become many doctor’s appointments and constantly checking up. And it’ll be monitoring side effects,” the actress continues. “It’s not fun, but it is what it is. And with all that said, I’m very fortunate and I’m going to live, which is the most important thing.”
Fishel shared that she was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) during the Aug. 19 episode of her podcast Pod Meets World, which she hosts alongside fellow former Boy Meets World stars Rider Strong and Will Friedle.
Danielle Fishel at the world premiere of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place in Los Angeles on Oct. 28, 2024.
John Salangsang/Shutterstock
“It does hit me still all the time,” she tells PEOPLE. “Because I remember very early on when I was diagnosed … someone said to me, ‘I just want you to know, I’m so happy you found your cancer early. But there is no such thing as easy cancer.’ “
“At the time,” Fishel continues, “before I’d had surgery or done anything, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t really know what that means but I’ll remember it.’ Sure enough, even having stage 0 cancer, I had to have two surgeries.”
The actress is also “99% sure” she will need radiation treatment, which she says is “going to be in 20 days, five days a week for four weeks straight.”
“And then I will also need to go on a hormone therapy. I’m going to have to be on an estrogen blocker for at least five years,” Fishel explains.
Asked how husband Jensen Karp has supported her through her journey, Fishel says he has “been unbelievable,” accompanying her “to every doctor’s appointment.”
“He’s been there when I’ve had my emotional meltdowns and needed to cry,” she says. “And he’ll say, ‘What are the tears about? Do you want to talk about them? What is this? Do you just want to vent or is this about a specific thing we can talk through?’ He’s been really great.”
The support from Karp, 44, has also extended to how they present Fishel’s diagnosis to their two young sons: Adler, 5, and Keaton, 3.
“I pride myself so much on my kids’ lives not changing that much,” she tells PEOPLE. “I might be going through something, but I want them to still be able to go to baseball practice and karate and school and their friends’ birthdays.”
“And so if I haven’t been able to be the one to take them, he’s been the one to do that,” she adds of Karp. “Really, he’s been wonderful.”
