Shannen Doherty's doctor became a close friend. He was by her side the day she passed away.

On Saturday, July 13, Shannen Doherty, 53, passed away after a long fight with stage 4 breast cancer.

Now, her oncologist, Dr. Lawrence D. Piro, is sharing details of her final moments, surrounded by the people she loved as she took her last breath.

Dr. Piro was not only a trusted figure throughout Doherty's breast cancer journey, treating her at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, but he also became a close friend to her over the years.

Watch: Shannen Doherty opens up about her breast cancer battle. Post continues below.

"We both immediately got each other," Dr. Piro told People. "Sometimes that just happens. The vibe is right and you understand each other and you understand what the thoughts mean as if you had known each other for years before that meeting. 

"That's what it was like for us when we first met, and it was that way all the way until the very last."

Doherty had previously spoken about going to great lengths to curate the perfect medical crew to help her manage the disease, which she called her "dream team". So, Dr. Piro was there when it mattered most.

Dr Piro and Shannen became close friends. Image: Getty

"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," he 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."

Just last month, Doherty told her Let's Be Clear podcast listeners that she would be undergoing another round of chemotherapy for stage 4 breast cancer.

"I’m having to go back on chemo and it’s really hard," she said through tears. "The idea of going through that all over again has wrecked me."

However, Doherty fought till the very end, even after she had discovered that her body wasn't taking to the treatment the way Dr. Piro had hoped.

She fought until the end. Image: Getty

"We kept going until we couldn’t go any more," said Dr. Piro.

"The last conversation that we had, she was in the process of realising 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."

Despite only having a limited number of options left towards the end of her journey, Doherty still wanted to explore other avenues.

"Still, the conversation was about, ‘What can we do within those limitations?' as opposed to, 'Let’s do nothing,'" said Dr. Piro. 

"That wasn’t even open for discussion, because that’s not how Shannen lived. She was an incredible warrior in everything she did."

"She was an incredible warrior in everything she did." Image: Getty

In 2016, Doherty praised Dr. Piro on her Instagram, emphasising the importance of finding a good doctor during tough health battles.

“The key is to find a doctor who listens to you and appreciates your concerns,” she wrote. 

“Not every cancer patient is the same. Also, it took me a lot of meetings to find my dream team. Don't settle.”

The Beverly Hills, 90210 star, who was first diagnosed with cancer in 2015, and relapsed in 2020, was also involved in difficult divorce proceedings with her ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko, while undergoing chemotherapy.

Doherty filed for divorce in April 2023, after 11 years of marriage, but the divorce was dragged through the courts with a dispute over spousal support payments. Doherty signed the divorce the day before her death, without the payments included.

Shannen and ex-husband Kurt Iswarienko. Image: Getty

"I never got the sense that that emotional challenge was draining her ability to continue to fight on the medical side," said Dr. Piro of her romantic life.

"It certainly made it more challenging, but she's such a winner that I feel like she pulled all the resources necessary to give the best fight against cancer, even though she was being very emotionally challenged. 

"She fought so hard and she didn't believe that it would ever be over, which kind of makes everybody around you believe that, too, because you want to believe that."

Feature Image: Getty.