Guiding Light Star Kim Zimmer Announces Breast Cancer Diagnosis: 'I'm a Tough Broad'

A guiding light star Kim Zimmer has breast cancer and is undergoing treatment.

The actress, 69, announced her diagnosis publicly for the first time during Stand Up To Cancer’s “Daytime Stands Up: Benefit for Stand Up to Cancer – We All Have a Story” livestream event on Thursday evening, May 16.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer on November 6th,” Zimmer said at the event, vocally emotional, adding that she would have “fallen apart” after hearing the news if it weren’t for her husband AC Weary, three children and the support of her friends.

The soap continued, saying that she underwent a mastectomy and will go to her last chemotherapy appointment on Tuesday, May 21.

Zimmer attended the online event because she A guiding light Reva Shayne’s character was diagnosed with breast cancer in the 2006 soap opera.

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Kim Zimmer.

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Tina Sloan, whose character on the CBS daytime hit Lillian Raines, discovered a lump in her breast that turned out to be cancer in a 1992 story. She also participated in a panel where Zimmer appeared.

In a later storyline, Zimmer’s Reva hid her diagnosis from her loved ones, a choice the actress said she didn’t understand.

“It’s so important that you find a support system,” Zimmer said of her experience with the diagnosis after discovering she had three grown children calling her every day. “Find someone you can talk to honestly and truthfully [who] they will listen to you.”

“I’m a tough woman and I handled this the way anyone would expect me to,” he said One life to live the star continued, adding that she couldn’t be as strong without the people around her, including great doctors.

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Kim Zimmer, husband AC Weary, son Max Weary, son Jake Weary and daughter Rachel Weary at the 26th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards on May 21, 1999.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Collection of Ron Galella via Getty

“I’m here to say early detection, early detection, early detection, early detection. Get a mammogram, get it soon,” she said.

Zimmer encouraged anyone watching who has a diagnosis and needs support to find it wherever they can and get as much information as possible so they know what questions they want to ask their doctors.

Although she didn’t reveal her diagnosis at the time, Zimmer did a joint interview with PEOPLE and her son Jake, 34, in February to support their film Bleeding Love.

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During the conversation, Jake revealed that his mother was always a source of support for him when he was making his acting debut as a teenager.

“I remember coming on set and seeing my mom, and I felt so comfortable because she had created this really comfortable space for me. I will always remember that,” he said animal Kingdom said the star.

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Source: HIS Education