SerpApi.Org
Star Trek legend William Shatner shared a heartwarming joke to cheer his daughter up as both of them were receiving treatment for a deadly cancer diagnosis.
The 95-year-old icon, who played the original Captain Kirk, and his daughter leaned on each other for support after they were both told they stage 4 cancer three years ago.
Speaking to People, Melanie recalled the moment she told Shatner about her diagnosis.
She said, ‘I was having a moment and was hysterical. I called you and said, “I think I’m dying.”
The sci-fi legend rushed over to her house to give her a ‘huge daddy bear hug’.
He told her, ‘I do not want you to worry. Just send me the bills’, with Melanie adding ‘Then you made me laugh so hard when I was still going to the doctor a year later.
‘You said, “You’ve got to get well. We’re going to be in the poorhouse!”‘
In June 2023 Shatner was diagnosed with stage 4 malignant melanoma that had spread to his brain, with Melanie fighting for her life with HER2-positive breast cancer that had spread to lymph nodes in her chest.
Melanie, who lost her mother actress Gloria Rand in 2017, said, ‘I remember vividly thinking, “I don’t have the strength to take care of myself lose my father at the same time”.’
Shatner was ‘unshakable’ and promised her that the ‘universe is taking care of me.’
Melanie said, ‘he wouldn’t stop his life. 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’s not alone.’
In late 2024, the Shatners were told they were cancer free – with Melanie saying ‘It was the third time in my life I had heard him cry’ when she rang him to tell the good news.
Proving the diagnosis didn’t slow him down any, Shatner has relaunched his career as a heavy metal front man.
Melanie underwent multiple rounds of chemo with revolutionary HER2-targeted therapies, a double mastectomy and 30 radiation therapy treatments for more than a year.
During her recovery, she spotted a concerning lump in her father’s cheek. And after being told it was merely a blocked saliva gland, he got a second opinion from a plastic surgeon friend who informed him it was a tumour.
He had surgery to remove the lump, followed by two years of immunotherapy to target the cancer in his lungs and brain.
Shatner was rushed to hospital towards the end of last year after suffering ‘a medical emergency’.
The actor, who also went to space for the first time with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin trip in 2021, was admitted to hospital after an issue involving his blood sugar.
But he reassured concerned fans that he had only ‘overindulged’ over the holidays, writing on Instagram: ‘Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.’
‘I overindulged. I thank you all for caring but I’m perfectly fine.’
