'Young & Restless' star Eric Braeden shares cancer diagnosis

"The Young and the Restless" soap-opera star Eric Braeden is undergoing immunotherapy for cancer. While recuperating from knee surgery, the German-immigrant actor, 82, said in a live video on Facebook Watch over the weekend, he began experiencing prostate and bladder trouble.

During a hospital examination a few weeks ago, a doctor found cancer cells in Braeden's bladder. "I was taken aback,” the Daytime Emmy Award winner says in the 13½-minute video, "but I was determined to deal with it." His doctor, while conducting surgery for the original issue, removed most but, as tests later showed, not all of the cancer.

"Amongst the low-grade cancer cells were some high-grade cancer cells," Braeden explains. Through immunotherapy, which stimulates the body's immune system to fight disease, "I will lick this … and I'll be in top form again soon," the actor says. "So I still am happy to be able to go to work. That, I enjoy. It distracts me. I love acting. I love knowing that I entertain people." Following a long pause in which he tears up, he tells viewers, "I love your support. Means a lot."

Braeden has played Victor Newman in nearly 4,000 episodes of "Y&R" since 1980.