'Boy Meets World' star says she's been diagnosed with a form of breast cancer that's curable

Danielle Fishel, who played Topanga Lawrence in the teen sitcom "Boy Meets World," has a curable form of breast cancer.

In a story by Annabelle Timsit in today's editions of The Washington Post, Fishel urged other women to get their mammograms, or breast cancer screenings, to catch any issues early.

Danielle Fischel

The diagnosis, Fishel disclosed, is that she has DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ), which affects more than 55,000 women in the United States each year but usually is noninvasive and curable. 

The 43-year-old Fischel, who now also uses the name Fishel-Park, having added her second husband, a comedian, to the appellation, says she's having surgery to remove the abnormal cells and will receive "some follow-up treatment," according to Timsit's story.

The Post piece also quotes the television star as saying that "the only reason I caught this cancer when it is still Stage 0 is because the day I got my text message that my yearly mammogram had come up, I made the  appointment."

Cancers are rated from 0, the least dangerous form of the disease, to 4, the most advanced (and normally deadly).

The Cleveland Clinic maintains that "DCIS accounts for up to a quarter  of all new cancer diagnoses," the story adds.

Although modern medical imaging technology "has made it possible to detect DCIS whereas it would typically go undetected before and could in some cases turn into invasive and deadly forms of breast cancer," the article continues, Nigel Bundred, an emeritus professor of surgical oncology at Manchester University, emphasizes that DCIS can recur "and turn into invasive breast cancer and therefore requires close monitoring and, in many cases, treatment."

To learn more about DCIS, buy Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his wife's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.

Oncologist, in op-ed for The Washington Post, suggests five tips on reducing your cancer risk

Dr. Mikkael A. Sekeres, in today's guest op-ed for The Washington Post, after outlining his family's bent toward getting cancer and his own risks, offers five tips on how to reduce chances of contracting the disease.

The oncologist emphasizes, however, that "it's important to understand that not all cancers are associated with modifiable risk factors" so you may not be able to lower your chances of getting a malignancy even if you change your behavior.

Still, the most recent statistics, which were published by the American Cancer Society last month stemming from figures dating to 2019, indicate that the positive chances are substantial.

Dr. Mikkael A. Sekeres

Sekeres, chief of hematology and professor of medicine at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami, and author of two books, writes in the op-ed that the ACS study estimates "40 percent of new cancer diagnosis in adults aged 30 years and older in the United States were due to modifiable risk."

The doctors's tips on lowering your risks include taking sun protection seriously, keeping alcohol intake at a minimum, not smoking, exercising half an hour daily, and avoiding sugary drinks, fast food, and processed meats.

Sekeres—who says he became a cancer specialist in part because of all of that disease in his family— cites his mother's lung cancer, his maternal grandmother and uncle's leukemia, his paternal grandmother's ovarian cancer, and his paternal grandfather's prostate cancer.

To help prevent skin cancer, he pushes the application of sunscreen each day and following guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to wear hats, sunglasses, and long-sleeve shirts.

Regarding booze, he writes that "while we commonly associate alcohol with cancers of the oral cavity or esophagus, by far the greatest  number of  cancer diagnoses attributed to alcohol consumption was actually breast cancer."

Cigarette smoking, he notes, "was attributed to about 86 percent of lung cancer diagnoses, about 54 percent of cancers of the esophagus, and about 51 percent of bladder cancers."

As for exercise, Sekeres' piece maintains that "in a recent study of over 60,000 adults, those who exercised for two or more hours per week have a 26 percent lower risk of head and neck cancer, a 20 percent lower risk of lung cancer, and an 11 percent lower risk of breast cancer."

Finally, the doctor,  while promoting balanced meals, contends that "research has found an association between colorectal cancer and consumption of red meat and processed meat" and that "low fruit and vegetable consumption has been associated with oral cavity, pharyngeal, esophageal and laryngeal cancers." 

More statistics about risks of the disease can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.