‘Baywatch’ Alum Nicole Eggert Diagnosed with Breast Cancer

Nicole Eggert, 51, is opening up to People magazine about her battle with breast cancer.

The “Baywatch” alum recalled gaining 25 lbs. in three months and feeling a “terrible pain” in her left breast back in October. She thought the symptoms were related to menopause, but during a self-exam she found a lump.

Her breast was “throbbing and hurting,” and her doctor told her to “immediately go get it looked at.”

It took weeks to get an appointment, but she eventually got the mammogram and biopsies she needed.

The results came back positive, and she was diagnosed with stage 2 cribriform carcinoma breast cancer. She still doesn’t know if the cancer has spread.

“This journey's been rough for me,” Eggert said. “This hasn't been a breezy sale through life,” but she is trying to maintain a positive outlook. “I always read inspirational quotes and corny stuff, but it gets me through.”

Now, the actress is waiting on further direction from her oncologist regarding surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.

“I can definitely feel it,” she said of the lump. “It's there. It needs to be taken out. So, it's just a matter of do I have to do treatment before the surgery or can they perform the surgery and then I do the treatment after.”

Nicole admitted, “I have panics where I'm like, just get this out of me. You sit there and it's in you and you're like, every second that passes and it's inside of me. It's growing, and you're just like, you just want it out.”

The “Charles in Charge” alum also reflected on her fear of not being there for her daughters Keegan, 12, and Dilyn, 25.

“[Dilyn’s] an adult, but I have a 12-year-old at home where I'm the only caregiver. I have no family. I have nothing,” she said.

Nicole recalled a look of “horror” on Keegan’s face when she found out her mom was sick. “It immediately made me realize, there's just no succumbing to this. This is something I have to get through. This is something that I have to beat. She needs me more than anything and anybody,” she said.

A friend also set up a GoFundMe page to help Nicole financially.

“My fear is that my everyday hustle, everything that I do to keep everything going is going to come to a screeching halt when I'm not feeling well or I'm sick or I'm in the hospital or whatever is going on,” she said. “It's just so overwhelming, and I'm just doing everything I can not to spiral. At night when I lay down, I panic because I'm like, well, who's going to cover all the bills? Who's going to do all of this?”

She hopes to set up a nonprofit in the future to help other single parents.

“I absolutely 100% want to start a nonprofit for other single parents such as myself, who don't have any family, don't have anybody to turn to,” she explained. “They take on all this by themselves because they love their kids so much, but when something happens to them, then what?”