Shannen Doherty Reveals Heartbreaking News Her Cancer Has Spread

The former Beverly HIlls 90210 star, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer 16 months ago, has opened up about her fight to stop the deadly disease which has reached her lymph nodes.

Shannen is undergoing an aggressive round of chemotherapy and shared intimate black and white photos on her Instagram account, like the ones shown here, of her journey and has opened up about her diagnosis in an interview with Entertainment Tonight.

She explained: “I had breast cancer that spread to the lymph nodes, and from one of my surgeries we discovered that some of the cancer cells might have actually gone out of the lymph nodes. So for that reason, we are doing chemo, and then after chemo, I’ll do radiation.”

The brave 45-year-old star is able to handle the treatment and the painful side effects - including losing her signature dark locks - but admitted the “unknown” is what scares her.

Credit: Wenn

She said: “The unknown is always the scariest part. Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work? You know, am I going to have to go through this again, or am I going to get secondary cancer?

"Everything else is manageable. Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, it’s the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love.”

The Charmed actress first knew something was wrong when she did a self breast examination. She admitted she doesn’t want to know what stage she’s at now but wants to concentrate on the fight itself.

However, she has decided she will follow the likes of Sharon Osbourne, Angelina Jolie and Christina Applegate and opt for reconstructive surgery on her breasts - which were were removed following her first diagnosis - when she has finished treatment.

Describing the other difficult side effect of cancer, she said: “After my second treatment, my hair was really matted, like in dreadlocks. And I went to try and brush it out, and it just fell out. I just remember holding onto huge clumps of my hair in my hands, and just running to my mom crying, like, ‘My hair, my hair, my hair, my hair.’

"It was just shedding and it was driving me crazy. It was just clumps, and I was like, 'Just grab the kitchen scissors.’ And my mom’s like, 'Wait, wait, wait.’ I’m just, like, 'Grab it.’

She added: “She went and grabbed the kitchen scissors, and put it in a ponytail and she just chopped it off. And it was this cute little bob, but it wasn’t enough, you know, it was falling out.

"We did stages. We did a pixie. And then we did a mohawk, which was my favourite look. And then finally, we had to get the shaver thing and just buzz it off.”

Shannen’s husband, Kurt Iswarienko - pictured with the star below - was working in Mexico but has been a huge support throughout.

She said: “He was so stricken that he wasn’t there with me but I sent him pictures and videos and he was like, 'Oh my god. You’re hot with no hair.’ So you know, everybody kind of made me feel better about it.“

She added: “I am in bed and it is a rush to the bathroom. It’s, you know, you’re throwing up every single second. After my first treatment I lost 10 pounds, instantly. You’re throwing up and the last thing you want to do is be in a car. You don’t want to be moved, you can’t eat. But my husband has to, you know, pick me up. He puts me in the car, he buckles me in, and he drives me to my oncologist and they hook me up to an IV and I get hydrated. … There’s nothing going in my body, it’s all going out.”

The actress says that ultimately, she hopes to inspire others by talking about her fight against cancer.

She said: “I wanted to put it out there the way it felt the best for me to put it out there. And also, if I could help one person then it makes me go, 'Oh OK.’ It’s easier to live with having cancer if I know I’m helping at least one person.”