'One Life to Live' Star Kassie DePaiva Opens Up About Second Cancer Diagnosis Following Leukemia
One Life to Live's Kassie DePaiva revealed the extent of her previous health struggles.
On podcast Dishing With Digest, DePaiva spoke about the moment she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in July 2016.
"I had just come back as Eve [on Days of Our Lives] and it was crazy. I mean, it was just a very surreal moment," she said. The soap star noted that she'd found "two knots" under her arm while sitting on a chairlift and decided to immediately schedule an appointment to have them checked out upon her return back home to California.
"Well, did a biopsy and the rest is history," she recalled.
She had previously shared that health struggle with fans on her blog, but had not spoken about another challenging diagnosis.
Though the 62-year-old was relieved at the time she was confirmed to have leukemia that it wasn't breast cancer, she was diagnosed with it a year later. "I laugh, like, 'Can you believe it?' But I had a lumpectomy and everything was clear," she shared. A lumpectomy is a type of breast cancer surgery, in which the cancerous tumor and surrounding tissue are removed.
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DePaiva also opened up about her experience with chemotherapy treatment, delving into the physical toll it took on her.
"Chemo was just so awful for your body and how it’s not day-to-day, it’s minute-to-minute," she said. "You think, 'OK, I’m going to be good' and then you get up and all of a sudden your body eliminates, or you faint, or you throw up. It's just yucky."
As for why she kept her diagnosis a secret from the public, the actress explained, "I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to die before I let fans know what was going on."
Currently, DePaiva said, she is "cancer free and happy."
Next: Brian Austin Green Gives Update on 'Resilient' Shannen Doherty Amid Ongoing Cancer Battle
