Danielle Fishel wants her fans to meet her in the messy middle. 

The Boy Meets World alum detailed her recent breast cancer diagnosis and shared why she’s being so upfront about it. 

“I would like to share something with our listeners,” Danielle explained on the Aug. 19 episode of Pod Meets World, which she hosts with former costars Will Friedle and Rider Strong. “Something that Rider and Will were actually the first people I told the news to. I was recently diagnosed with DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, which is a form of breast cancer. It is very early. It’s technically stage zero.”

And Danielle, who played Ben Savage’s love interest Topanga on the sitcom for all seven of its seasons, emphasized that her diagnosis is minor. 

“I was diagnosed with high grade DCIS with micro invasion,” she continued. “And I’m gonna be fine. I’m having surgery to remove it. I’m gonna be on some follow up treatment. I’ve had to make a lot of decisions over the last couple of days.”

While Danielle admitted that she previously thought she’d “suffer in silence” if she was ever diagnosed with cancer, she decided to open up on the experience after learning a lesson from author and motivational speaker Glennon Doyle.  

“She often talks about how a lot of people like to save sharing their experiences until they’ve come out on the other side of it so they can say, ‘Here’s the pretty picture of it all, here’s what I’ve learned,’” Danielle added. “But the place you have the most to learn from is at the very beginning of a story, or in the very messy middle of a story.”

After hearing her diagnosis, Danielle’s initial reaction was to only share the news with her husband Jensen Karp—with whom she shares kids Adler, 5, and Keaton, 2—her parents and her brother. But she quickly learned she gained a lot from opening up. 

“The more people I talked to, the more people had their own experiences either themselves being diagnosed with cancer, or a family member,” the 43-year-old said. “The world of resources and experiences that can be shared by sharing it, and things that can be learned.”

The Girl Meets World actress even went on to note what she has learned through the experience so far—and wanted to use it as an opportunity to educate the trio’s listeners. 

“The only reason I caught this cancer when it was still stage zero, is because the day I got my text message that my yearly mammogram had come up, I made the appointment,” she explained. “I hope that it will encourage anyone to get in there. If you have to find out that you have cancer, find out at stage zero.”

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