Former ‘Boy Meets World’ star reveals bombshell health diagnosis

Danielle Fishel, who famously played Topanga Lawrence on the beloved ‘90s sitcom “Boy Meets World,” shared a health update with fans, revealing she has been diagnosed with a very early form of cancer.

The actress, 43, announced the shocking news on Monday’s episode of “Pod Meets World,” which is a rewatch pod she does with friends and former costars Rider Strong and Will Friedle.

Upfront about the diagnosis, she began the podcast by saying she’d like to share something with listeners.

“Something that Rider and Will were actually two of the first people I told the news to,” Fishel said. “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,” she continued, saying how early doctors detected the cancer. She assured fans that she was going to be fine and that her diagnosis is a minor one.

“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,” she added.

Fishel, who played Ben Savage’s love interest on the sitcom for all seven of the show’s seasons, credits a text message reminder that it was time for her annual mammogram, and making the appointment once she received it.

Fortunately, the cancerous cells were found extremely early.

The “Girl Meets World” actress admitted that she previously thought she’d “suffer in silence” if she was ever diagnosed with cancer but decided to share her 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,’” Fishel explained. “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 receiving her diagnosis, Fishel was initially only going to share the news with her husband, Jensen Karp – whom she shares kids Adler, 5, and Keaton, 2 – her parents and her brother, but soon learned that 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,” Fishel said. “The world of resources and experiences that can be shared by sharing it, and things that can be learned.”

She also hopes that her own experience will encourage others to “get in there” to the doctor’s office.

“If you have to find out you have cancer, find out at stage zero if possible,” Fishel said.