Shannen Doherty’s doctor and close friend says that the “Charmed” and “Beverly Hills, 90210” star “was not ready to leave” in the moments leading up to her death.
Dr. Lawrence D. Piro, an oncologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles who has also appeared on television and in film, was the late actor’s trusted adviser during her Stage 4 breast cancer battle and he evolved into a close friend who would frequent her vibrant dinner parties, according to People. He said he was among the loved ones who were by her bedside when she died Saturday at 53 after a nearly decadelong battle with cancer.
“We kept going until we couldn’t go any more,” Piro told the outlet. “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.”
Without describing specifics as a medical professional because it would violate privacy laws, Piro said Doherty faced “a limited situation of options” because of her condition over the last few weeks. Nonetheless, he said, she remained an active participant in her healthcare and focused on what she could do within those limitations. He described her as “an incredible warrior in everything she did.”
The hard-fighting actor publicly announced her diagnosis in 2015, revealing in a lawsuit against her former management firm that her health insurance had lapsed in 2014, which affected her ability to access timely treatment. She has chronicled her diagnosis, remission and relapses since then, revealing last summer that the cancer had spread to her brain and, in November, to her bones.
“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” and her dog Bowie, 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.”
Piro, who appeared on Doherty’s “Let’s Be Clear” podcast as well as “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” “The Doctors” and “This Is Farrah Fawcett,” said the actor’s “love for life and a desire to have more life” are what kept her going, but it was “incredibly painful for her not to be able to do that.”
As Doherty’s battle for survival heightened in recent weeks, she also faced the last stages of contentious divorce proceedings with ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko, from whom she separated in January 2023 and split with in April 2023 after 11 years of marriage. Doherty signed the divorce settlement the day before she died and waived both her and Iswarienko’s rights to spousal support, according to a judgment filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. Iswarienko signed the settlement the day she died, the judgment said.
Piro said he never got the sense that the emotional challenge of the divorce was draining her ability to continue to fight “on the medical side.” However, it made it “more challenging,” he said.
However, he hoped that the actor’s legacy would be one of treating others with kindness.
“This tremendous love for life was inspired by a love for people and a love for being treated well,” he said. “And I think that that grew out of being in public eye from a very young age and feeling misunderstood most of her life.”
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