Shannen Doherty shares 'truthful' photos for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Shannen Doherty hopes her story will help other women. The Beverly Hills, 90210 star shared two candid photos of "what cancer looks like," urging people to get mammograms. Doherty revealed last year that her cancer returned as stage IV.

"I'd like to share more of my own personal journey from my first diagnosis to my second. Is it all pretty? NO but it’s truthful and my hope in sharing is that we all become more educated," the 50-year-old actress began. "I hope I encourage people to get mammograms, to get regular checkups, to cut thru the fear and face whatever might be in front of you."

In the first image, Doherty is lying in bed with a bloody nose.

"In 2015 I got diagnosed with breast cancer. I had a mastectomy and did chemo and radiation. I had many nose bleeds from the chemo. Not sure if any of you experienced this," Doherty continued. "I also was beyond tired. I cheered myself up by putting on funny pajamas that my friend Kristy gave me."

The Charmed star also shared a photo of her wearing Cookie Monster pajamas.

"Did they actually cheer me up? Yes!! Lol. I looked ridiculous and in that ridiculousness, I was able to laugh at myself," Doherty continued. "Finding humor helped get me thru what seemed impossible. I hope we all find humor in the impossible."

The actress recently opened up about her diagnosis, saying she doesn't want to be "written off" because of it.

"A lot of people who get diagnosed with stage IV, they sort of get written off," Doherty said Monday in an interview that aired on Good Morning America. "It's assumed that they cannot work or they can't work at their full capacity, and that is not true. That is something that I would really like for people to stop assuming and give us a chance to prove them wrong."

Doherty stated that she's "going to keep fighting to stay alive."

"You really have to dig deep to face cancer, and in that you find all the stuff that you had hidden away," she added. "And it's beautiful things that you find. You find the vulnerability, you find your trust in people again, you find forgiveness."