Desperate Housewives star, Kathryn Joosten, has a relapse of lung cancer after winning a bout with the disease in 2001.

The actress, 69, a two-time Emmy winner for her role as feisty neighbor Mrs. McCluskey on Desperate Housewives, tells PEOPLE, “I’ve got a little hang-up here, but we’re going to handle it and move forward. I’m doing great.”

Joosten, who also played Mrs. Landingham, the beloved secretary to Martin Sheen’s President Bartlett on The West Wing, learned about the diagnosis about two weeks ago. 

“I felt like the legs had been pushed out from under me,” Joosten says of receiving the news. “I completely did not expect it, and was devastated. I was crying for nearly five days straight.”

Have U Heard wishes Ms. Joosten a speedy recovery.