A look at William Shatner’s health battles through…
William Shatner followers can breathe simple.
The 94-year-old actor is doing effectively after allegedly experiencing a medical emergency Wednesday afternoon.
“I over indulged. I thank you all for caring but I’m perfectly fine,” the “Star Trek” star wrote on X Thursday alongside a meme joking about his “greatly exaggerated … demise.”
William Shatner quelled considerations this week after stories of a medical emergency. Getty Images
GWN had sparked panic by reporting that Shatner suffered a blood sugar issue at his Los Angeles home and was hospitalized.
But the Hollywood legend’s representatives set the file straight.
“He is fine,” Shatner’s expertise agent, Harry Gold, told USA Today. “I spoke to Mr. Shatner yesterday, and he sounded strong and his same old self.”
It’s hardly the first time Shatner’s health has made headlines.
Earlier this yr, the Emmy winner opened up about his decades-long battle with tinnitus — a chronic ringing in the ears — which he said started while filming the “Star Trek” episode “Arena” in 1967.
“I was too close to the special effects’ explosion, and the result was that I was left with permanent tinnitus,” he recalled in a video for the nonprofit Tinnitus Quest.
Shatner is understood for his iconic function as Captain James T. Kirk in the unique Star Trek tv collection and movies. Everett Collection / Everett Col
Tinnitus is a common condition, affecting up to 20% of people, according to the Mayo Clinic.
For some, it’s gentle and only noticeable in quiet moments, but for others, it may be extreme and persistent.
In those circumstances, tinnitus can take a severe toll, often main to sleep issues, hassle concentrating, social isolation and mental health points like anxiety and depression.
“Over the years, I’ve had many ups and downs with my tinnitus, and I know from firsthand experience just how difficult it can get,” Shatner said in the video.
But that condition pales in comparability to what the “Boston Legal” actor confronted in March 2024: a stage 4 melanoma diagnosis that might have been deadly.
Shatner has been open about his health struggles throughout his profession. WireImage
The first signal of the aggressive pores and skin cancer was a lump under his proper ear.
At first, his household doctor told him not to fear, suggesting the lump was a blockage in the parotid gland that would go away with therapeutic massage.
But after a month with no enchancment, Shatner sought a second opinion — and discovered the reality was far more severe.
“They said if this [treatment] they used did not work, I had about five months,” Shatner told Healio, without specifying the precise timing of the diagnosis.
While early detection provides melanoma sufferers a five-year survival fee of over 99%, that determine plunges to just 35% once the cancer reaches stage 4, according to the American Cancer Society.
Thankfully, Shatner underwent surgical procedure to take away the lump and credit a rigorous immunotherapy routine with saving his life and placing him in remission.
At 94, Shatner continues to work actively. Getty Images for SXSW
It wasn’t Shatner’s first brush with a cancer scare.
In 2016, the “T.J. Hooker” star revealed he was recognized with prostate cancer after a sudden spike in his PSA ranges — a potential pink flag for the disease.
However, he later discovered it was a false alarm.
Shatner said the elevated PSA ranges had been truly triggered by testosterone dietary supplements he was taking at the time. After stopping them, his numbers returned to regular.
“That was really scary,” he told NBC News. “I was told by a doctor I had a terminal disease. That I was going to die.”
In 2018, the web also prematurely killed him off — this time via a pretend Facebook advert that claimed he had died.
The web site rapidly eliminated the post, with Shatner quipping: “Thank you. I’m not planning on dying so please continue to block those kinds of ads.”
But whenever the time does come, the sci-fi legend already has a plan.
“I’m going to have my ashes taken and plant a tree over them. A redwood tree,” Shatner said in an October 2022 interview with USA Today.
“So, instead of a piece of stone, there’s this living thing that is nourished by my remains and continues on.”
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