Shannen Doherty Shares a Heartbreaking Picture for Breast Cancer Awareness

Shannen Doherty, who's in remission after battling breast cancer for two years, has been sharing powerful photos on Instagram to show what it's like to fight the disease. Most recently, she shared an emotional photo that captured the moment when she began losing her hair.

"This image is so personal to me," Doherty captioned the photo. "I had started chemo. Was using a cold cap in hope to not lose my hair. [The] end result [were] clumps in my hands. I was sick, felt like I was losing myself. Gained people and lost people. Got weak and got strong. Felt ugly and yet more beautiful inside than I had ever felt before."

While going through treatment, the self-proclaimed #CancerSlayer often offered people fighting cancer a glimmer of hope. Like the time she shared a video of her dancing even though she didn't feel like getting out of bed that day. Another time, she made a red-carpet appearance to raise cancer awareness after receiving chemo that day. But she also shared plenty of posts that were raw and real, like when she was honest about the dark side of cancer treatment and chemotherapy.

"I remember this like it was yesterday, like it was a minute ago," Doherty wrote in the caption. "Cancer has so many phases. Shock, denial, acceptance, anger, resentment, rebellion, fear, appreciation, beauty. Remission. Even then, the phases keep coming. Cancer is with you forever."

She concluded by noting that even after you've beaten cancer, it continues to affect your life in unexpected ways. "Those who have experienced it know that even after you've kicked [its] ass, it still impacts you, in good ways and bad," she said. "You still go [through] the roller coaster of emotions. You still need support and love. And you can still grasp life and live, live, live."

Her message really resonated with her 977,000 followers, several of whom showed their support in the comments below. Some who were cancer survivors themselves shared how much they could relate to what she was saying and thanked her for her honesty.

"Been there too and know how you feel. It never goes away. There's always the scars," one woman wrote.

"Thank you for sharing your journey in a very raw and real way," said another. "This is your purpose: to help others understand and to comfort those who may feel very alone in that same journey."

Huge props to Shannen for always keeping it real and letting other cancer survivors know that they're not alone.