Melanie Shatner Gretsch first discovered her cancer four years ago when she woke up in the middle of the night and felt a little lump on her breast she thought might be a bug bite.<\/p>\n
She told People magazine<\/a> she decided to have it checked out despite a mammogram not finding anything just five months earlier.<\/p>\n DAVE COULIER REVEALS 45-POUND WEIGHT LOSS, GRUELING SIDE EFFECTS FROM CANCER FIGHTS<\/a><\/p>\n William Shatner with his daughter, Melanie Shatner; her husband, Joel Gretsch; and their daughter, Willow, in 2006. (Barry King\/WireImage)<\/p>\n Although the technician didn\u2019t find anything during a scan the next day, “something pushed me back and said, \u2018No, have her recheck it.\u2019 She put the wand exactly where I put my finger and under her breath said, \u2018Now, I would have missed that.\u2019”<\/p>\n She was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer<\/a> that had spread to lymph nodes in her chest.<\/p>\n Shatner said his daughter was “very conscious of the importance of her life for herself and for her family. I was devastated.”<\/p>\n Gretsch is a mother to two daughters she shares with husband Joel Gretsch.<\/p>\n Gretsch said her father told her not to worry about the medical costs and to send him the bills.<\/p>\n “Then you made me laugh so hard when I was still going to the doctor a year later,” she added. “You said, \u2018You\u2019ve got to get well. We\u2019re going to be in the poorhouse.\u2019”<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n William Shatner at MegaCon Orlando 2026 in March. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n For the next 18 months, her life was filled with multiple rounds of chemo, 30 radiation treatments and a double mastectomy.<\/p>\n “Chemo was the most physically draining, and the radiation I found so emotionally draining,” she admitted.<\/p>\n Just as she was nearing the end of her treatments, a lump appeared on her dad\u2019s cheek.<\/p>\n He said a family doctor told him it was just a blocked salivary gland that was nothing to worry about, but a doctor friend whose advice he asked while they were horseback riding advised him to get it removed.<\/p>\n CAMERON MATHISON SAYS NOTICING SUBTLE BODY CHANGES \u2018SAVED MY LIFE\u2019 AFTER CANCER DIAGNOSIS<\/a><\/p>\n “He placed his hands on my cheeks, and he said with love in his voice, \u2018You better get this out,\u2019” Shatner explained.<\/p>\n In June 2023, Shatner was diagnosed with Stage 4 malignant melanoma<\/a> that had spread to his lungs and brain.<\/p>\n “I remember vividly thinking, \u2018I don\u2019t have the strength to take care of myself and lose my father at the same time,\u2019” Gretsch admitted.<\/p>\n Shatner was more upbeat.\u00a0<\/p>\n “They said, \u2018You got cancer. If you came in later, you would have been dead.\u2019 See? That\u2019s my life. I think the universe is taking care of me.”<\/p>\n The 95-year-old had the tumor removed and underwent two years of immunotherapy<\/a>.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n “He wouldn\u2019t stop his life,” his daughter told People magazine. “He kept working and moving forward. Whenever he was home, Joel and I would bring dinner to him and watch movies, just always made sure that he\u2019s not alone.”<\/p>\n William Shatner on “Star Trek” (Bettmann Archive)<\/p>\n Shatner added, “We got the perfect doctors for her cancer and my cancer.”<\/p>\n The “Star Trek” actor, who was the oldest man in space when he went up in a Blue Origin rocket, has stayed busy with two new books and two records, all expected to come out next year.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m healthier now<\/a> than I\u2019ve been in years,” Shatner said. “The brain is like a muscle. It feeds on activity.”<\/p>\n Near the end of 2024, both were declared cancer free<\/a>.<\/p>\n “It was the third time in my life I had heard him cry,” Gretsch admitted of telling him her cancer was gone.<\/p>\n![\"William](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/william-shatner-with-daughter-her-husband-and-grandchild1.jpg\")
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