The 'Baywatch' alum shares her regrets over getting breast implants at 19 amid her current health crisis.
Baywatch star Nicole Eggert is offering a heartbreaking health update amid her breast cancer battle. The 52-year-old actress calls the situation "horrible" while revealing a new layer to her condition.
In an interview with Inside Edition on Thursday, Eggert shared that doctors had found more cancer in her lymph nodes since she first received her stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis in December.
Eggert says that her symptoms began about three months ago, when she "started noticing really rapid weight gain and fatigue." She discovered a painful lump in her breast during a self-exam and, as panic set in, she says she struggled to secure an appointment for a mammogram.
"Nobody could take me so I walked into every breast care center like, 'Please, please, please,'" Eggert recalls. "It's horrifying because every minute in every day that passes you know it’s growing."
Eggert suffers from a "very rare" condition called invasive cribriform carcinoma. According to the National Library of Medicine, it occurs in approximately 0.3 percent to 6 percent of breast cancer cases.
Last month, the Charles in Charge star told People that she will need surgery to remove the cancer and is waiting to determine when chemotherapy and radiation treatments will begin.
Now, she's issuing a warning to others as she suggests getting her breast implants at 19 years old made it difficult for her to discover the cancer earlier.
"If I didn't have them, and I had my smaller, natural breasts, I am sure I would have felt it much sooner," she tells Inside Edition, calling the surgical procedure "a huge mistake."
"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,'" Eggert says. "There's nothing you can do. You can't stuff it."
Eggert starred as Summer Quinn on Baywatch from 1992 to 1994.
Eggert, who is a single mother to daughters Dilyn, 25, and Keegan, 12, has a friend who set up a GoFundMe with a $100,000 goal to help her cover the cost of treatments and medical bills.
"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," Eggert's friend, Mindy Molinary, wrote on the crowdfunding page.
Molinary added that Eggert's current insurance "won't even scratch the surface of what she needs."
"She is tenacious and has always found a way to get by, but this is different. She will be unable to work while undergoing surgery and treatments. She has a long, scary road ahead and has a terrible time asking for help," the message continued. "I implore you to help my friend afford her medical bills as well as feel secure that she won't be left without a home for her family during this extremely trying time. Once she is on the road to recovery, she intends to start a non-profit for single parents like herself, without families, who are going through this ordeal."
Eggert shared a link and a screengrab of the GoFundMe page on Instagram alongside a hopeful note.
"Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today. - Thich Nhat Hnah. Link in bio- Please read and Please share," she wrote.
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