RIP, Shannen Doherty: U.S. Breast Cancer Deaths, 1999-2023
And a little bit about the reality of the trajectory of cancer
I’m mainly using this post as an excuse to post videos from Heathers, a movie I enjoyed in my youth…
…and Shannen Doherty played one of the Heathers, Heather Duke (who wore green, until the original main Heather, who wore red… well, let me not retell the story). Of the Heathers, I thought Heather Duke was the most interesting.
Look, I like comedies of all sorts, including very dark comedies.
(more Heathers at the end of the post)
RIP, Shannen Doherty
Shannen Doherty recently died after a long struggle with breast cancer. She was only a few years older than me, having been born in 1971.
Today: How did Shannen Doherty die? What to know about '90210' star's cause of death
Doherty's cause of death was breast cancer, according to a statement from her publicist.
"It is with a heavy heart that I confirm the passing of actress Shannen Doherty. On Saturday, July 13, she lost her battle with cancer after many years of fighting the disease,” Sloane said.
Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 and said it had spread to one lymph node. She went into remission two years later. She announced in 2020 it had returned as Stage 4.
The cancer later metastasized to her bones and brain. She underwent brain surgery for her illness in 2023.
Prior to her death, Doherty shared in a late June episode of her podcast, "Let's Be Clear," that earlier treatment protocols were no longer working on her.
She had previously shared at different points that she was preparing to die and had gotten used to living with her cancer.
I bolded the years — the journey started in 2015, and ended in 2024. Along the way there was a lot of treatment, surgery, and pain.
Good News on Breast Cancer Death Trends
I’m doing the traditional “sandwich” presentation — I have some good stuff to show you before I get to some bad stuff (and then some funny stuff again).
This is the good news:
First, you have to ignore the bogus spike from 2021 for those over age 85.
Reminder: there is a fake spike in cancer death rates (and some other cause of death rates) for the elderly in finalized CDC death statistics for 2021 (and only 2021), because of the population estimates they used in that year.
See this post for an explanation:
Even ignoring that fake spike, there is slight increase in breast cancer death rates for older groups post-pandemic.
But for younger groups, there has been steady improvement.
All that said, yes, thousands of young women (and a few men) die each year from breast cancer, even with the reduced death rates.
The Reality of Cancer: Invasion of Uncontrolled Growth
This is Meep (aka Mary Pat Campbell) writing. My husband Stuart was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer (and that was his initial diagnosis) in 2017. It was throughout his body.
He is the reason I fundraise for Movember each year.
It was super-rough that first year, because the cancer was throughout his body and he needed harsh treatment to beat it back then. He lost hair, and… no, he didn’t lose weight. He actually gained weight, because I came up with a protein-packed recipe for frittatas. I made sure the result was easy for a chemo patient to chew.
Whoopsie. He did finally lose that extra weight.
But that cancer was in his bones… and it’s still in his bones. In a few, stubborn spots. The cancer is treated as a chronic condition now, with daily chemo pills now.
While Stu’s cancer is prostate cancer, both breast and prostate cancers have hormone-related sensitivities, and their treatments are related.
But the connection is this: we know that there may come a time when the treatments no longer work. It happens with many cancers.
Also, as one gets older… the treatment may be killing you more than the cancer does.
Back to the Dark Comedy!
I never have seen “Mean Girls” — and, really, how mean can they be if they never even killed anybody?
In addition: a supercut of the Heather Duke scenes
Related Posts
Feb 2024: Cancer Death Rates by Race/Ethnicity, U.S. 1968-2023
Feb 2024: Cancer Death Rates by Age and Gender for the U.S., 1968-2023
I was born in 1971 and my mother passed in 2002, she was 56, and the cause of death was cancer. It was a very disrupted passage for me as we could not do much except prepare mentally and emotionally for her untimely end. I can attest that my perspective on life was forever altered as a result. I was clueless about Shannon's struggle and extend condolences to her loved ones.