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Dec. 20, 2024 - Dr. Oz Podcast
41:43
Michael Strahan’s Health Struggles | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 122 | Full Episode
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Today, Michael Strahan is back.
The last time he was here, he ended up in bed with Oz.
Now, he opens up about his dad's health scare that was a wake-up call for him.
I look back now, it actually changed my life.
Plus, Shannon Doherty is facing her biggest scare yet.
The cancer crisis she never expected.
How she's fighting back.
Coming up next on Oz.
We'll save lives today.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh You guys ready to get healthy?
On today's show, two larger-than-life celebrities in the spotlight speak out about their personal health battles. two larger-than-life celebrities in the spotlight speak out about their What they share today could actually save your life.
First, Michael Strahan, my good friends here.
He's the pro-athlete turned TV star who just may be the busiest man in show business.
But he's stopping by today to reveal the health battle he's fighting in his family.
And at Dr. Oz Show First, we're going to be using a 4D ultrasound machine to look directly inside Michael Strahan's own heart.
You'll want to see what's in there.
And then Michael's going to give you his best food tips, what he eats on the go to stay fit.
I also have Shannon Doherty on the show.
Now, we all grew up with her in Little House on the Prairie in Beverly Hills, 90210. She's here speaking out for the first time on television about her cancer battle and why she's delayed treatment.
But let's get started with Michael Strahan.
Now, before I bring him out here, I gotta tell you something.
The first time he was here on the show, he crashed the show in drag with Jimmy Fallon.
True, real, it really happened.
The next time he showed up, he actually came out wearing my scrubs, my own scrubs, and then he ended up in bed with me.
He couldn't make this up.
So really anything can happen when Michael comes by.
How could he top these past appearances?
Let's find out.
Come on out, Michael Strahan.
Yeah!
What is he doing?
It's a postal service.
So ready!
Nothing's gonna stop, Michael!
There he is!
Michael Strahan!
Oh, my goodness!
Oh, my goodness!
It's like a rider!
And a wheelie!
And a wheelie!
My brother.
How you doing, man?
Great to see you.
What a show-off!
Couldn't help myself.
What a show-off!
What are you about?
Hey, what's up?
You know, what an entrance.
Oh, you know what?
That would take me back to my childhood.
You used to ride a lot?
I love to ride.
I have a bike.
It's a BMX bike back in 1985. It was $1,200.
Ooh, expensive.
Yeah, more than a motorcycle.
And I wanted it, and my dad was like, if you want it, you have to earn $600.
You pay for half, I'll pay for the other half.
And I love how everybody's applauding, because at the time, I wasn't applauding.
I was like, $600?
How am I gonna do that?
So I cut grass.
I was a babysitter, which I was horrible at.
But I did all those things, and I came up with $600, surprised my father, and I have that bite to this day.
Oh my goodness.
To this day.
You love your dad.
You talk about him a lot.
He's a decorated veteran, everybody, so you don't know.
He's a big-time athlete like his son became.
And in every way, you're a mentor.
And you actually posted something on Instagram recently.
I don't know if you remember this photo, but this is him getting an award.
What's happening here?
Oh, yeah.
My dad was a retired major, and that's my mom pinning one of his awards, his pins, on him.
But he was also a master jumper in the 82nd Airborne Division and all that.
Jumping out of airplanes.
I was very touched.
By a video you made with your dad.
Your dad has a heart problem.
Yeah.
And you decided to sit him down and made this very inspirational little piece of footage that I want to share with everybody.
Let's take a look.
What's the most important talk you remember having with me?
I was like, you got to do something.
You got to lose some weight.
You got to take care of yourself better.
Yeah, but I had to cut down.
I just saw you eating cookies over there.
Well, you know, you can't just quit at all.
Well, now they're sweet tooth.
They've got a sweet tooth.
Then the truth comes out.
My dad is.
Oh, so it's a legacy.
This is the family tradition that's passed along, the sweet tooth.
And we used to work out together every day since I was, what, 13 years old.
But our workouts have changed.
But one thing that hasn't changed about you is you have the same determination, even when I tell you sometimes you need to slow down.
Well, so you don't want to hurt your dad's fear by saying he can't keep up with you no more, huh?
Well, if you were keeping up with me, then I'm kind of worried about myself.
But when you had a heart scare, though, did it make you more aware about your health overall, about taking care of yourself?
It keeps me thinking, y'all, I don't want to go around here with great big stomach and You know, and all that kind of stuff.
So it keeps you from the dad bod?
Yeah.
That is not an easy talk to have with your dad.
That is not an easy talk to have with your dad.
And as he said, he works out to keep from the dad bod, which I just think is funny.
But my father, when I was 13, he started working out with me.
And I started working out when I was 13 because I was a big-boned kid, let's put it that way.
But he saw how determined I was and he joined in.
He said, hey, if you're that determined, I want to be a part of this with you.
And we've always worked out.
When I go back home to Houston, we go to the gym together.
It's just something that we do.
And for him, he had his heart scare.
And when I partnered with that meta, we came up and did this video to encourage people to have this conversation.
Because a very hard conversation.
When my dad first had his heart scare, I kind of sat back and let my mom handle it.
She should be able to do it.
She pinned his lapel with the award, right?
Yeah, but I found that as his son and someone who spent so much time with him, I had so much power to have this conversation and have an impact.
And I felt it was very important that other people know that you need to talk to your parents.
Don't be afraid, because I was afraid.
Because my father is my hero.
And you want that person around as long as you can keep them around, and you want to do everything in your power.
And for me, part of that power was having a conversation about him changing his diet, changing his lifestyle in a lot of different ways, because I want him around.
That's my old man.
Of course, you love him.
And I love him.
Yeah, absolutely.
So, is he accepting you as being his heart coach?
Now he has.
It wasn't easy at first.
I could tell with that little sweet tooth comment.
Yeah, yeah.
I could do it all at once.
Well, because he's talking about, well, you know, my diet and I don't want, you know, he always says he wants to be built like a wasp.
Big upper body, slim waist, and then, you know.
But...
He said that, and I look, and the man's eating cookies, and I'm like, well, you know, it's a sweet tooth.
It's hereditary.
It's not hereditary to get a sweet tooth.
So, he's funny.
He makes me laugh.
So, what kind of changes have you really been effective with him?
What have you told him to do, and what has he actually done?
Well, the one thing he's done, he does keep up with his exercise.
I will say, he's at the gym all the time.
But it's his eating.
Has cookies not every day and all day, but occasionally.
But more than that, he's changed from his breakfast, eating a healthier breakfast.
And eating, you know, sometimes you don't eat enough.
You think, oh, I don't eat, so I'm going to lose weight and I'm going to be healthier.
That's not the case.
You need the right types of food to burn in your body.
So he's learned how to eat oatmeal in the morning, how to have fruit instead of that candy bar.
Just how to do all the little things.
Stay away from a lot of the fast foods that are very easy to get to and very easily accessible.
But just to look in your refrigerator and find some things that you know are going to be good for you.
Drink a lot of water.
And that's one of the things that I don't think any of us do enough is drink a lot of water.
That cuts down on a lot in itself.
I love that you're doing this.
So, you've agreed to come on, and we're going to do an experiment for the first time ever on this show.
Okay.
We're going to actually look inside of Michael's heart.
Michael's straight hand's heart, a professional football player's heart.
You sure you want to do that?
I'm sure.
We're going to compare and control.
We're going to see what the heck's in there.
What have you been eating inside your body that has changed that heart for the good or for the bad?
You ready?
I'm ready.
Let's do it.
All right, when we come back, stick around.
Next, I'm having Michael take part in a Dr. Oz first.
Up close and personal, like never before.
Could have at least warmed it up for a fella.
We're going to see if Michael's heart works as hard as he does.
Wow, a lot of muscles.
I got a big heart, lady.
I got a big heart.
Next.
Mall food courts.
What I'm about to show you can literally make you sick.
Dirty secrets exposed.
What I found might make you rethink your next meal at the mall.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
Who doesn't want their father or the person who was most influential in their life to be around as long as possible?
What do you think I should eat to keep healthy?
Vegetables, a lot of fruit.
I think you should drink a lot of water.
And it's not like you can't have fun and have a little something here or there.
It's son's time to take care of your father.
And this is one way you can take care of your father.
After discovering his father had a heart condition, Michael Strahan is looking at a whole new way of keeping his heart healthy.
Is that true?
Absolutely.
You're meticulous about it?
I am very meticulous about it.
And, you know, like I said, I teamed up with Meta, who are my partners.
And so I'm very big into the Meta products, Metamucil.
And also, you know, I just watch what I eat.
I have an 80-20 rule.
Hmm.
80% of the time, I take care.
I make sure that it is the right stuff.
And 20% of the time, I can have a little dessert.
I can have a cookie.
I can have fun.
But you have to have some kind of rule like that in place, and you have to be disciplined.
You really do.
But it's worth it.
It is worth it, but it's hard for folks to do.
And one of the things we like to do is sort of show them what's really happening in their heart.
So for the first time, we're going to do a 4D ultrasound on your heart.
You up for this?
I am, because everybody at home probably wondering why my shirt's open, and I want them to understand it's because of that.
Wasn't that me?
You make me want to get undressed, too, Dr. Allen.
All right, Jacob, come out of here, Jacob.
I'm going to be a technician.
How are you doing?
Good to see you.
Have you had your heart checked before?
I've never had this done.
I've never.
This is going to be interesting to me, too.
Oh, my goodness.
We'll find something cool.
You're going to lie back, Jacob.
I'm back.
Put him in a spot.
On your side facing me.
One or two.
Excellent.
He calls us the Burt Reynolds position.
I do.
Let's just see what it looks like.
There you go.
Oh my goodness.
This is cool.
So I'm going to try to get real over here.
You could have at least warmed it up for a fella.
This machine actually gives you a surgeon's eye view of the heart.
And this is the regular old echocardiogram.
Right now we're about to find the key structures.
And then we're going to show you what a surgeon actually sees going into your heart.
So I'll go back here.
There's your mitral valve.
That's the most important valve in the heart probably.
There's the muscle of the heart.
Wow.
That's a lot of muscle.
That's your main pumping chamber.
Can I see this side?
He got a ponderously large right ventricle.
That's what athletes have.
Is that good?
I don't know.
Is that good, Jacob?
You think?
Yeah.
For guys your size and athletes like you, yes.
I think this is a normal thing we see.
You can brag about that.
I got a big heart, ladies.
I got a big heart.
All that blood pumping through those lungs made you big in many ways.
That is actually really big.
I'm serious.
Alright, now you're going to do the 3D, the 4D rather.
So is this like a normal thing at a hospital now to have this 3D, 4D? No, the normal one is the one that we're doing now.
But then we're going to take this one generation past to what I use in the operating room.
Because I have to actually see how that's different.
I need to actually look and see literally what's happening there.
So this is now a 4D of the mitral valve.
The mitral valve is named after the Pope's hat, Michael.
But you can just give me one image of this if you don't mind.
So this is what the mitral valve looks like.
It's named after the Pope's hat because it's got two parts.
You know how the Pope's hat's like this?
Yes.
So it's broken up like this and it closes and opens.
And so I can actually look in there and your mitral valve is really cool.
What's that in there?
What's...
There's something...
What is...
Blow that up.
What is that?
Don't scare me.
There's a football in your heart!
Oh, man!
There's a football in Michael Strahan's heart!
Oh, come on!
You...
You can't do that to me!
If you look, I guarantee you that heart started pumping faster!
Oh, man!
You must have eaten the running back at some point.
Oh, boy!
He's still in there.
Actually, I want to...
Compare him.
Show him what my RV looks like.
This is...
There we are.
Now...
It's always about comparison, you know, Michael.
Here, slide over a little bit.
We're getting real cozy.
That's what I'm talking about.
Now look at my right ventricle, which is elegant and sort of dainty compared to yours.
Right at the top of the screen.
You have a very manly heart, Michael.
Yes, thank you.
I have a very manly heart, and yeah, okay.
You've been such a good patient.
I'm giving you one of these.
You're only a lollipop.
Thank you, Doc.
It's the absolute least I could do.
When we come back, we're going to have some more fun.
Michael's giving you his favorite heart-healthy, low-calorie, one-minute meals for when you're on the go.
Stay here.
It's a good lollipop.
Next, with endless errands, raising kids and busy jobs, why is it so important to eat well when we're racing around?
The busiest man in showbiz shares his favorite grab-and-go meals to stay fit and healthy.
Literally takes a minute or two.
Next.
I'm always on the go.
I'm always in a rush and I need some healthy to go snacks from my side.
Can you please help us?
Thank you.
As you can see, I am always on the go, non-stop, between their activities and work.
I was hoping you could help me in maybe giving me some tips on how to make healthy snacks.
Thank you!
Bye, Doctor!
Those are two of my viewers who are clearly on the go.
But let's face it, that's real life.
With endless errands, your kids, busy jobs, and a lot of you are living that grab-and-go reality we just saw.
But today, Giselle and Misa are here because the busiest man in show business, Michael Strahan, is going to reveal what he eats on the go to stay fit.
Before we get to that, I know you're doing all the right things.
But I guess part of the evidence, by the way, is that People Magazine selected you as one of their sexiest men in 2016. But what I can understand is they put you in the man bod category.
What is that about?
They put me in a dad bod.
You know, I'm a father.
A father's coming off of different sizes.
I'm honored to be in the magazine.
If this is a dad bod, then I wear it proudly.
Well, I disagree with the editors.
What do you think?
I found a picture of you.
It's an Instagram image from a movie he was recently in.
Okay.
Should have never posted that picture.
Giselle, what do you think?
Is that a dad bod?
No, it's nice.
It's a nice bod.
It's perfect.
This thing going on.
All right.
I'm just going to show each of you how to make quick and healthy grab meals.
One minute for each food.
You're going to run over there, make the dish.
I have my whistle here.
You're used to this day.
Are you ready?
I'm going to taste everything for quality control.
And the professionally made ones are right here.
These are the gold standards right here.
Are you ready?
Go!
All right, I'm going to go to Nisa first.
Nisa, we're going to make a little salad.
Nisa's going first.
So we're just going to dig in, grab some lettuce.
All right, get a little lettuce, get some tomato.
This is a salad hack, a soda salad hack.
Soda salad hack.
Then we're going to get some cucumber.
Don't be shy digging there, girl.
You're gonna get some chicken.
Chicken?
Oh, I love chicken.
I love chicken, too.
All right, let's go with some olives.
He makes the turn.
It's looking good.
Couple olives will look as good as the one I have here.
Mozzarella.
Oh, my son loves mozzarella.
Your son loves mozzarella.
You can make him one of these.
More than halfway there.
Time is running short.
Can they finish on time?
Yeah, we can finish on time.
Are you sure?
Put this on it.
Hey, bam.
Stick that fork in there.
Whoa!
There you go.
Come on over here.
We made it, right?
Come on over.
Let's bring it over.
All right.
I gotta say, I look at mine.
Let me see these.
Something bad happened to this one.
Oh, look at that malfunction of the cup.
What happened to the tomatoes?
You don't like tomatoes?
I was a little stingy with everything.
It was slimy.
It was hard to grab.
You know what?
But you made it.
See, this is my proportion.
I'm bigger than Nisa.
This is perfect for her.
I think she did a magnificent job.
Don't you guys think so?
I think so, too.
You're a tough young doctor.
I love the fact you got all the protein you want, and you can pack this up real quick in the morning.
You got it all day long, and you didn't even have the dressing yet, so you got that to go as well.
And this will keep you from, you know, snacking on those other things.
Come on, you come next to me.
Michael Strahan is now going to make the egg roll and nut snack.
You're a big egg person in the morning.
I'm a big egg person.
Start the clock.
All right, I boil eggs, but there's a way to tell if an egg is boiled or not, all right?
You spin the egg, you put your finger on it.
If it keeps spinning, that means it's not boiled.
If you spin the egg and you put your finger on it and it stopped, whatever, then it's boiled.
Well, you take a pick.
Grab an egg and, um...
Did you know that?
Oh, it kept going.
It's not done yet.
No.
You got two fingers.
Here we go.
I'm going to do two hands.
Spin it.
Stop.
It kept going.
So what do you think?
Just grab an egg and let's go.
Make sure.
You got 20 seconds left.
Make sure it's a good one.
Okay.
I think it is.
No, it's not done.
But we got 20 seconds.
You got 10 seconds now.
We got to crack one and peel it and see if we're lucky.
Oh, it's not it.
Oh, that's one.
Yes.
This one works.
Do we got any boiled eggs here?
We got some right here.
Oh!
What a catastrophe!
Oh, we got one!
At the buzzer, we both got one.
All right, but when you get a boiled egg, all I do is I take two boiled eggs, I put them in the bag, I add some walnuts with it.
Very simply do that, and I end up...
With this.
Oh, beautiful.
Throw the top on it, pack and go.
This is what you really do.
That's what I really do.
When I look like this, do that.
You know, it's very easy, though.
But the problem with most of us is that it's not that a lot of times we don't know what we should be having, or we just think it takes a lot more than it does to make it, to put it together.
And it really doesn't.
It literally takes a minute or two to put together something that's going to really help you and very healthy for you.
So despite this catastrophe here, the concept of two eggs in the morning, you can make them, maybe not just boil them all at once so you don't have this problem again.
Okay.
But I got Michael, I actually had the technicians backstage reanalyze your echocardiogram.
You don't scare me again, Doc.
No, I'm not.
And we found something that I thought was actually very interesting.
Look at the echo.
Notice what's in there.
This is what's truly in Michael's heart.
If you can expand it.
Kelly Ripa.
That is true.
That is true.
But I just got to say to her husband, Mark, it's all innocent.
All right.
I think as you can catch Michael every morning with Kelly on Kelly and Michael, check your local listings.
We'll be right back.
Peace out.
Next, actress Shannon Doherty is no stranger to the spotlight.
And now, she's starring in her own real-life medical drama.
I was in the shower and I felt something a little odd.
What she wants you to know about the cancer crisis she's battling.
Next.
Charlie is back.
There are some reports that you sent angry texts, made some comments that were a little alarming for me to hear.
Is he ready to face his truth?
According to Denise, you said, I'm going to kill you and I'm going to kill your mom.
I'm concerned as a father and a husband.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
Actor Shannon Doherty is no stranger to the spotlight.
Since she was 10 years old, she's had a successful career on TV and in films.
But now, the actress is starring in her own real-life medical drama as she faces a health crisis.
At age 7, Shannon Doherty moved from Memphis to Hollywood.
By 10, she was a working actress.
At 11, she captured a winning role in America's attention as the courageous Jenny Wilder on Little House on the Prairie.
Her stardom was solidified when legendary producer Aaron Spelling cast her as the boisterous Brenda Walsh on the smash hit 90210. Spelling and Shannon combined forces again for the hit series Charmed.
Since then, Shannon has enjoyed a charmed Hollywood life, working as an actress, producer, and director, and finding lasting love with husband Kirk Izvarenko.
Then, in 2015, the press leaked devastating news that the actress later confirmed.
Shannon Dougherty was battling breast cancer.
Please welcome Shannon Dougherty.
I'm so happy you're here.
Thank you.
All right, you're 44 years old.
Life's going well.
Yeah.
Charmed, as we were saying.
Right.
And you hear those fateful words, you have cancer.
Yeah.
Where were you?
What went through your mind?
I was in a car driving on PCH back to my house.
My mom was actually driving.
I was in the passenger side, and the doctor called me, and he told me that all I could think was How do I tell my family?
You know, how are they going to deal with it?
It was, you know, you worry most about the people that you love and about making sure that they're going to be okay.
So I'm already going to cry.
So for me, that was the hardest part.
My husband told me, he goes, just think of everybody in their underwear.
So you're all in your underwear right now.
Kurt, her husband is joining us, by the way.
He's in the audience.
I know this is difficult.
We sat down about a month ago and talked privately.
And I know how passionate you are.
About your story being helpful to women all over the country.
Yeah.
Whether it's a cancer diagnosis or anything else.
And you're so insightful, so I'm going to have you walk our audience through what's going on in your life.
Okay.
Was there a family history of breast cancer?
It was on my father's side.
His mom had cancer, breast cancer, and emphysema, I think.
But nothing, my mom's side is healthy as can be.
And you discovered the lump yourself.
Yes.
How did that happen?
I was in the shower and I felt something a little odd.
And, you know, a million different scenarios go through your head at a time.
You, you know, you compare yourself to your dog and you're like, oh, well, he has like a fatty cyst here.
I'm like, Leroy, everything's fine.
You know, I mean, your head goes into all sorts of different places.
And then reality comes in and you're like, huh, I should probably get this checked out.
And did you?
You know, unfortunately, I was with business managers at the time.
And they, as business managers do, you pay them 5% of every single dime that you make.
And they go, you do nothing.
You don't even know where your bank accounts are.
For the most part, they literally take over your life.
And so their job is to pay your health insurance, to pay your mortgages on time, to pay your Verizon bill, to make sure your AT&T bill is paid, to make sure your taxes are paid.
I mean, that's their job.
And for 5%, you really hope that they're doing that job because it's a lot of money.
And I found out that they had not, in fact, paid my health insurance.
Timing wise, it was past being eligible for other sorts of insurance.
So I didn't go to the doctor when I needed to.
So you delayed seeing the doctor?
Yes.
Knowing there's a lump in there?
Yes.
That is something that women all over the country are struggling with right now.
Yeah.
What's that like, the powerlessness of that?
I mean, it's pretty frightening, and all I can say is, you know, go.
Go.
Because you have no idea what that extra time might have afforded you.
And usually what it is is that mine, for instance, spread to a lymph node or two.
You know, it might not have spread.
There's a really strong possibility it wouldn't have spread.
So I think, obviously, as you know, as a doctor, the most important thing is catching it as early as humanly possible.
So when you finally get to the doctor's office, And they start examining you.
Yeah.
Treating you.
Horrible.
Horrible.
What did they tell you?
You know, I'm actually very shy, like, and modest, as my husband will attest.
And so to have all these people, like, touching my breast is really uncomfortable.
And I don't know if there's any breast cancer survivors here.
Actually, this whole audience is breast cancer survivors.
Oh, I love you guys.
Oh, that's amazing.
You're all gorgeous, by the way.
You're beautiful.
And I'm dying to hear your story at some point as well.
But it's horrible.
You're in there, and then it's the waiting for the results.
And you're like, okay.
And they do the mammogram, and they're like, this doesn't look so good.
And we think that we should do a biopsy.
And in your head, you're like, God, this is turning all bad.
And how is this happening to me?
To me, that's what you say to yourself, right?
I'm in the middle of writing a book about my experience, and in it I say that I was Superman.
I thought my body was so strong.
I felt like nothing, nothing could touch me, and now I feel like...
Like a lemon, like a car that's a lemon.
And you're like, how can I return it back to the dealership and get a new one?
And you do.
You just kind of feel like, where did I go wrong and how did I fail?
You went one step beyond at everything you did in your whole life, but especially now.
Right.
So when you got the diagnosis, you started looking for other approaches, different therapies.
Yes.
Walk us through what was good, what was bad, what was ugly.
Well, I mean, first off, I think doctors are phenomenal.
And I love my doctors at Cedars.
They think they're great.
But I think that oftentimes what we do as patients is we just accept what they say.
And we go, oh, God, they know everything, so we're just going to go along with this.
So they're like, you need to take both off.
Okay, sure.
Or you need to do this, or you need to do this kind of chemo.
And I think that it's very important to question it.
To constantly sort of look at them and question and say, well, but why?
Is there an alternative?
And if I stay on medicine a little bit longer, is that going to change maybe the kind of surgery that I have to have?
And, you know, why do I have to have radiation?
Because it's so damaging to your body.
Or, you know, what are the different forms of chemo?
And have we tested me to see which chemo will work for me?
And then there's the alternative medicine.
There's vitamin C injections.
I don't know if you guys did any of those.
You did that?
Yeah.
Vitamin C IVs, which are phenomenal for you.
I don't think they cure cancer, but they're phenomenal.
I mean, it's vitamins being injected into your body.
And you research a lot of stuff.
You research these clinics in Mexico that claim to cure you.
Yeah, you guys know those, huh?
Did you go there too?
No, God, no.
No, no, no, I didn't know.
I drew the line at going to Mexico.
But you're already so overwhelmed with the decisions you're having to make and with your own research, and this sort of comes at you, and it's even more overwhelming.
You kind of...
What I did is I buried my head in the sand and just sort of tuned everybody out and kind of figured out what felt right for me and obviously with a lot of prayer as well.
So what did you do?
Is the mass still in your breast?
Yes.
So I have not had surgery yet.
My oncologist felt that we should give this sort of an opportunity, this medicine protocol, to see if it would shrink the tumor.
And it's also known to, it sort of cuts off all your estrogen.
So my particular tumor is estrogen.
It's all fed by estrogen.
So the minute that they cut it off, it's sort of like, okay, you know, pretty sure it won't spread at this point.
And then you hope that the protocol you're on actually shrinks the tumor so that, again, you have more options down the road for surgery.
Do you think your doctors wanted to wait as long as you've waited?
No.
Does it make you nervous that the tumor's still in there?
No, because I feel like I needed to be ready and I needed first, second, third opinions.
And I didn't want to look back after surgery and say, wow, I wish I had done this instead.
All right, we'll come back.
I love you.
Wife Shannon waited to have her cancer removed.
The other thing she's tried, stay with us.
Coming up next, Shannon voices her anxieties and why she has delayed a treatment.
Just felt like I really had to get this right.
Can these breast cancer survivors help her overcome her fears?
I promise you will have saved lives today.
Coming up next.
What do you remember about shooting that episode from...
That was Beverly Hills 90210, by the way.
That was the first time in a teen-aimed show that breast cancer was part of the story.
Yeah, I felt a profound sense of responsibility.
Are you struck now by how life is indicating art?
I mean, that's too close.
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I wish I had Brenda's outcome as opposed to mine.
But, you know, I think that at this point, I just hope that I can help any woman who's going through it and make her realize that, like, I'm right there with you, you know, and we can all go through it together.
So my medical unit called Shannon's oncologist and told us Shannon's specific cancer is an estrogen-positive invasive ductal, which is a very, very common form.
And it feeds off estrogen.
So in order to help, you try to turn off estrogen because it makes the tumor get larger.
I know that your doctors are very nervous about you stalling the surgery.
I'm going to use the word stall because you've gotten a lot of opinions now.
What have you been doing in the meantime?
And just walk us through in some detail the therapies that they're giving you.
So I get a Lupron shot once a month, which is just not pleasant because you emotionally, for the first couple hours, days, week, you're a little...
You know, off, I would say.
Well, shut your ovaries down.
Yes.
So, I mean, I guess that was sort of the hardest part for me of going on this protocol is because I'm 44 and my husband and I wanted children.
So you go on Lupron and you instantly go into menopause.
Well, two months later, you're in menopause.
But, you know, you have to make choices in life sometimes.
And, you know, maybe that just means that we adopt and we're supposed to be those people that, you know, provide a home for a child who doesn't have one.
You do very good at that.
Yeah, thank you.
I think so too.
And then I take another pill, which I cannot pronounce.
It's okay.
So the big question.
Our last conversation ended without an answer to this.
Have you decided to have a surgery?
Yes.
You have?
Yes.
Oh God, yeah.
And what type of surgery are you going to have?
Have you decided that yet?
I haven't.
It's between two of them and at the end of the day it'll be up to my doctor and it could, you know, change the last minute.
I'm actually going to a center that you know of very well and just to sort of get their general opinion.
And then I head back to LA and instantly sort of go in with my doctors.
I'm like, you guys make the final decision.
What would you do if it was your wife?
What would you do if it was your daughter?
And ultimately that's...
You know, whatever.
They're just breasts, right?
I mean, I love them.
Mine.
Mine.
But, you know, and everybody's really, they're beautiful.
But, you know, in the grand scheme of things, they're just not, I would rather be alive and I would rather grow old with my husband.
Thank you.
I get the fear.
It's different for women, I think, when they sense their breasts, which are a part of who they define by.
I mentioned that the audience is filled with women who've already been through this, because I thought, as much as you're helping them, they might be able to help you.
So if it's okay, I'm going to have them just say a few words from their heart.
I haven't scripted this, but we'll hear from them.
And I don't know who wants to go first.
Everyone who has had breast cancer, please stand up in the audience.
Thank you.
Maybe you want to go first.
Words of wisdom.
Somebody that might help.
Shannon, somebody that helped you.
Hi.
Hi.
Your tears, I think, have brought all of us to tears because we've been in your shoes recently.
And we all came for you.
Literally came here for you today.
Oh, okay.
Thank you.
Thank you.
You guys are amazing.
You're killing me today.
We knew about you coming and we came here for you.
There will be women watching who will hear you and listen to your words and be their own best advocate.
And I promise you will have saved lives today.
How are you?
How are you feeling?
I'm doing well.
Thank you.
I wanted to talk to you today about a mastectomy because the biggest misconception about a mastectomy is that you're no longer beautiful anymore and you're no longer a real woman.
But I'm here to tell you, these women are here to tell you that you are a real woman.
That you are beautiful after your mastectomy, if that's what you choose to do.
Well, I can tell you, you're gorgeous.
Oh, I believe every word of that.
Thank you so much.
You all are.
Thank you.
And there's life after a mastectomy.
There's a living life after a mastectomy.
Wow.
You can tell why you guys are survivors.
God bless you for all being here today.
All right, coming up, how breast cancer affects Shannon's family.
We're going to meet her husband, Kurt.
Stay with us.
Next, Shannon's husband speaks out.
The thing that you can't help is that it changes you.
How he's coping with her cancer.
The impact on their marriage.
It's one of those times where you get to test your mettle as a married couple.
And the other source of stress they both have to deal with.
Coming up next.
Mall food courts.
What I'm about to show you can literally make you sick.
Dirty secrets exposed.
What I found might make you rethink your next meal at the mall.
All new Oz.
That's coming up tomorrow.
We're back with Shannon Dardy and her husband, Kurt, who's now joining us in the audience.
Shannon just announced that she's battling breast cancer.
Kurt, when someone you love is going through something like cancer, it affects the whole family.
How's it been for you?
How have you been handling this?
When this kind of thing happens, the thing that you can't help is that it changes you.
You have no choice in that, but it's how it changes you that you can deal with.
I think with us, it's brought us much closer together.
It's one of those times where you get to test your mettle as a married couple.
He loves you a lot.
Yeah, he's trying very hard not to cry.
That's right.
So, when you go public about any health issue, but especially with cancer, it can affect the way people perceive you.
Yes.
How has it affected your career?
Um, it's affected it because you do, you do change a little bit while you're on the medicine and everything else and you do get, you know, you gain weight and there's nothing that you can do about it and you do get puffy and I think, I think that that all affects a career like mine that's not only based on talent but it's so much based on Sort of the superficial shell that is right here.
And so it has affected it.
You know, I've been lucky.
I have, like, a director that adores me and hires me for a lot of stuff, and another director like Kevin Smith.
But, you know, those are few and far between.
I think that most people are usually like, oh, God, is she okay?
You know?
What's the stress like, dealing with not just the career issues, but the cancer, the family?
Stress is...
Stress is rough.
The stress is very hard, and I think that stress is one of the worst things to be going through when you have cancer.
It aggravates it all.
Also, I don't know if you guys felt this, but any time I wake up, With like a weird crick right here, I freak.
I'm like, oh my god, like it's spread, like now I have like some weird neck cancer, now I have throat, like you just imagine that you're breaking down all over and your entire body is breaking down in you.
And that's incredibly stressful.
And really all it means is you should treat yourself and go get a massage, right?
You're a courageous woman.
I admire determination, but the one word I put next to your name is Grace.
Oh.
God bless you.
Thank you.
And I wish you the best as you go through this.
Please keep us posted on the surgery.
I'll be supporting you and praying for you so we'll everybody else here.
Thank you.
Shannon's going to stick around.
When we come back, we've got an extra 30. It's Chris, one of her favorite things.
things, you'll want to know it as well.
Charlie is back.
There are some reports that you sent angry texts.
A little alarming for me to hear.
Is he ready to face his truth?
According to Denise, you said, I'm going to kill you, and I'm going to kill your mom.
All new Oz.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
And it's time for Dixer 30 with Shannon Doherty's.
So, I think she's pretty healthy.
I've been told that, but there is one loud exception.
Yeah.
And it is?
French fries.
But not just any kind of french fry.
You know, the greasy, greasy, crispy, salty french fries?
My favorite thing in the whole world.
Can't give it up.
That's how I know you're Irish.
Exactly.
My wife has the same problem.
So we have sought for solutions, and we have found one that might come in handy.
Because, you know, it's not the potato that's the problem, right?
It's the grease and too much salt on it, and then the things you dip it in.
So here's my little takeaway as you get ready for the big change decisions that's happening in your life.
And you're going to fight through this.
So you're going to be thinking, hopefully, about, instead of frying them, baking.
And not just potatoes, but turnips.
Please, before...
Her eyes are so expressive.
What this Dane she said that with.
Just taste my baked turnips.
We actually have these at home.
She's being polite.
That was not a crispy one.
Get this one.
Eat that one.
That one's crispy.
You ate a bad one.
There we are.
I mean...
You know.
All right.
I tried.
I love you.
Chad and Dorothy, thank you for being here.
Happy and healthy starts at home.
Makes yours healthy as well.
Good luck to you.
Seriously not bad.
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