Baywatch star Nicole Eggert‘s cancer battle is sadly far from over.
In case you haven’t heard the sad news, the actress, who played Summer Quinn on the iconic TV hit, found out in December she has a very rare type of breast cancer called cribriform carcinoma. In an interview with Inside Edition on Thursday, she explained the struggles she had even getting a clear diagnosis. The 52-year-old became worried when she noticed “rapid weight gain and fatigue” and found a painful lump on her breast. But she struggled to secure a mammogram appointment:
“Nobody could take me so I walked into every breast care center like, ‘Please, please, please.’ It’s horrifying because every minute in every day that passes you know it’s growing.”
So scary!
Eventually, she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer, and told People back in December she’s going to have to go through chemotherapy, as well as surgery to try and remove it. Sadly, though, her most recent update revealed doctors may have found MORE problem areas in her lymph nodes.
Related: Shannen Doherty Offers Hopeful Cancer Update After Trying ‘Miracle’ Treatment!
Speaking to IE, she said her biggest regret is not doing regular self-exams — as well as the breast implants she got when she was only a teen on the iconic television show:
“The self-exams, I’m telling you, I kick myself [for not doing them frequently]. That’s the one thing I should have been doing … If I didn’t have [breast implants] and I had my smaller, natural breasts, I am sure I would have felt it much sooner. [When I found out I had cancer] my heart dropped, I lost all hearing, everything sank.”
Sadly, the Charles in Charge alum says her time on Baywatch pressured her into getting the “mistake” breast enhancement procedure to begin with:
“When I was on Baywatch, it was very in to be very thin with big boobs. I was the opposite, so I was wearing this red bathing suit that was flattening me, the one piece, and it just, it was like, ‘Oh, man.’ There’s nothing you can do. You can’t stuff it.”
The actress, who is a single mom of two, admitted the scariest part of this whole thing is the thought of leaving her family alone:
“[My eldest daughter is] an adult, but I have a 12-year-old at home where I’m the only caregiver. I have no family. I have nothing. It immediately made me realize, there’s just no succumbing to this. This is something I have to get through.”
She’s so brave, we can’t imagine how scary this is for her…
Nicole hasn’t been a successful actress in a long time, and medical expenses in this country are staggering. So a friend, Mindy Molinary, set up a GoFundMe campaign for her to help cover the cost of medical expenses. She wrote in the description:
“It’s been a long time since Charles in Charge and Baywatch. As a single mom, she’s had to struggle financially to raise her two daughters. She still has a little one at home and she is terrified of not being able to afford the treatments and surgery necessary while also keeping a roof over their heads. She’s lost both her parents and doesn’t have any family to lean on or help her with this situation.”
If you’d like to donate, you can do so by clicking HERE.
We’re sending all of our well wishes and love to Nicole as she continues her battle.
[Image via Nicole Eggert/Instagram/Baywatch/YouTube]
