LISA O’CONNOR/AFP via Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Shannen Doherty says she’s remaining positive during her ongoing fight with stage 4 breast cancer, despite a recent disappointing development.

The 49-year-old actress, who publicly revealed in a interview with Good Morning America last February that her breast cancer had returned.  Doherty said she went to get a PET scan in early 2019 due to extreme back pain she was experiencing after exercising. Her oncologist, Dr. Lawrence Piro, then told her the breast cancer had not only returned, but had spread to her spine. She revealed her metastatic cancer to a few close friends at a very intimate dinner with Piro present.

In a new interview with ELLE, Doherty says being diagnosed has shaped the way she approaches life.

“I try to treasure all the small moments that most people don’t really see or take for granted,” she said. “The small things are magnified for me. We have this endless well within us, and it’s just about continuing to dig in that well for the strength to face adversity — and so that we can also see all the beauty.”

“I feel like I’m a very, very healthy human being,” she added. “It’s hard to wrap up your affairs when you feel like you’re going to live another 10 or 15 years. It’s like anybody with Stage IV faces this sort of thing, where others want to put you out to pasture. I’m not ready for pasture. I’ve got a lot of life in me.”

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Doherty and her husband, Kurt Iswarienko, have returned to quarantine at their Malibu home, which they left due to damages after the Woolsey Fire in 2018.

The October issue of Elle hits newsstands Oct. 6.

By Hayley FitzPatrick
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