[Sportschosun Lee Woo-joo] Actress Lee Hye-young opened up about the painful ordeal of her lung cancer battle.
On the 11th, a video titled "Lee Hye-young, now in her sixth year of cancer treatment and facing her fifth follow-up exam" was uploaded to the YouTube channel.
Lee Hye-young, who launched her YouTube channel, revealed for the first time footage filmed during her cancer treatment. She showed the scar on her side and said, "Because my lung was removed through my side, I have many scars there." She added, "I developed adhesions here and kept hurting. The pain spread upward and even reached my head. Then the symptoms suddenly showed up in my eyes. It is upsetting when your eyes do not look good. I was deeply discouraged because of my eyes." After showing the marks left by procedures and treatments all over her body, she said, "I have many wounds and scars all over my body. It is so upsetting and difficult, but I will get through it and do my best. I am trying to step back out into the world. Please look forward to Lee Hye-young's YouTube channel."
Lee Hye-young also looked back on her life, from her birth to her debut in the entertainment industry. She said, "I divorced in 2005. After that, I worried about how I would make a living. Right after the divorce, I had so many debts under my name that I could not even think straight." She continued, "From that time on, it became a period of paying off debt. Seven or eight years passed like that. During those seven or eight years, I filmed dramas, did home shopping, published books, and took on anything that could make money."
Lee Hye-young said, "After all of that was settled and I had started to save money, one day, on our 10th wedding anniversary, the hospital called me in and told me it was cancer." She added, "I had a pneumothorax in my lung since I was young, about 1.5 centimeters. I had been under observation for the pneumothorax that developed when I was young, but when it grew to a little over 2 centimeters and I went in, they said it was cancer."
Lee Hye-young said she had taken the cancer lightly at the time. "I thought I had overcome everything, so how could I not get through this one? I treated the cancer lightly. The professor said it would be best to have surgery to remove the lung, but if I could go back to that time, I might not have made that choice. In a way, chemotherapy might have been better," she said. "It saved my life, but the process of cutting between my ribs and taking out the lung must have been too much for me. For two years, because of COVID-19, I could not go outside, and neither could other people. I just stayed home in pain. I did not even know where the pain was coming from. I did not even know the word 'adhesion.' While enduring the pain, I ended up with neck and lower-back disc problems as well."
Lee Hye-young, who continued working while battling cancer, said, "At that time, I had to host 'Love After Divorce.' I had to sit for seven or eight hours at a time. We filmed it once every two weeks, and after each shoot, I spent the next two weeks getting my body ready for the following one. My body swelled up, and there were problems with my lymph nodes, so many people asked why I looked so puffy."
Lee Hye-young, who is now approaching her final follow-up exam, said, "Soon, the line 'You are free' will air in August, and that makes my heart race." She added, "It has been a mess, but I can rebuild. For the past year, I have felt my body gradually getting better. Since I am feeling better physically, I want to communicate through YouTube and try living as an actress again."
wjlee@sportschosun.com
