An oncologist who worked with Charmed actor Shannen Doherty while she was being treated for breast cancer has described the star's final moments.
Doherty passed away on Saturday (13 July), after revealing in 2020 that she had metastatic stage 4 cancer.
The diagnosis came after Doherty was initially told in 2015 that she had breast cancer. She went into remission in 2017, but the disease came back in 2019.
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Over the course of her experience with the disease, Doherty was open about her health and in September 2016 she wrote on Instagram that the 'key' is to find a doctor who 'listens to you and appreciates your concerns'.
Doherty found such support in oncologist Dr. Lawrence D. Piro, previously explaining that she and the doctor had 'a great relationship, one of mutual respect'.
In the wake of her death, Piro told People the pair had 'immediately got each other'.
“Sometimes that just happens," Piro continued. "The vibe is right and you understand each other and you understand what the thoughts mean as if you had known each other for years before that meeting.
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"That's what it was like for us when we first met, and it was that way all the way until the very last.”
Piro went on to share details about Doherty's last moments, explaining they had decided to keep going with treatment 'until [they] couldn't go any more'.
The doctor recalled: “The last conversation that we had, she was in the process of realizing that things had taken a pretty significant turn.
"The conversation was about love and support and caring and still fighting through. She wanted to continue to take treatment and fight through, even though her physical condition had taken a bit of a downturn. And so we did.”
Piro, who described Doherty as an 'incredible warrior', made clear that doing 'nothing' was not an option that was 'even open for discussion'. While Doherty continued to 'fight' in her last couple of weeks, she also began receiving more support.
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“In the last few hours, she was in a place where she was very comfortable and sleeping and transitioning, and she was surrounded by some of her very close friends,” Piro said.
"The room was surrounded by a select group of friends that were giving her a lot of care and support. It was somber and sad, but beautiful and loving. The hardest thing about this was that she wasn't ready to leave because she loved life.”
Looking back, Piro remembers Doherty for being 'razor focused and level-headed'; someone who wanted to 'live every day, not as if it were her last day, but as if it were the beginning of a whole another chapter for her'.
"She would want us to live our lives as strongly as we can, committed to our convictions and to not allow others to label you or to misrepresent you and stop you from living your best life," Piro said.
Topics: Cancer, Celebrity, Film and TV, Health, Shannen Doherty
Emily Brown