'Don't mistreat yourself in the pursuit of your goals': Jeremy Chan on life-changing realisation after shocking medical emergency

It is always during life-threatening moments that you reflect back on what you should have done in your life to make yourself happier and minimise regrets.

For local actor Jeremy Chan, his realisation came after a medical emergency in August 2020.

In a recent interview with 8World, the 42-year-old, who is married to local actress Jesseca Liu, revealed that he had a drug-rejection reaction after taking an allergy shot and had to be hospitalised for emergency treatment, which gave everyone a shock.

He said: "Ever since that hospitalisation experience, I realised that even if I earn a lot of money and something suddenly happens to me one day, then that would be my life… There is no way I can find a currency exchange dealer to exchange my life."

The incident also made him reflect on the purpose of earning an income.

"Of course I must have savings, but what is the purpose of making money? It is not just about earning it, it is also about how to spend it. I wish to travel the world with my wife with the money that I earned," he shared.

Jeremy said that he and Jesseca, 44, did not set an amount to save for their plan and it would be whichever amount they are comfortable with.

He added: "Don't mistreat yourself in the pursuit of your goals."

Jeremy also admitted that he is an impulsive buyer and not good at managing his own finances, so he leaves it to Jesseca.

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"Whenever I want to buy something, I would ask her, 'Should I buy it?' and she would analyse for me," he shared.

He added that some of the items that he had purchased in the past two years are still in their packages and he even had duplicated purchases because he forgot that he had already bought it before.

"A lot of these items are in the store room, such as shoes," said Jeremy.

Despite that, he shared that Jesseca does not get angry with him even if he admits it to her.

He said: "She is very chill, she knows that getting angry does not solve the problem and will hurt our feelings instead. She would discuss it with me nicely. She is also very logical in the things she says, so I would definitely listen to her."

Besides travelling the world, Jeremy had also expressed keen interest to try out extreme sports such as racing cars, but Jesseca strongly opposed it.

"Whenever she sees accidents in drag racing or on the racing tracks, she feels that it is very dangerous," Jeremy said.

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She is also not willing for Jeremy to try riding a motorcycle, unless it is for work.

"If work requires it, we would co-operate," he added.

Jeremy admitted that his hospitalisation has changed Jesseca's perspective on life.

He said: "We cherished each other even more ever since that experience. We would now fetch each other to and from work… We want to create more beautiful memories, which cannot be bought with money."

Jeremy is currently starring as Huang Jintiao in Mediacorp drama All That Glitters, whose close-knitted friendship with Li Musen (Desmond Tan) and He Jianzhe (Ayden Sng) slowly crumbles over the span of two decades as they pursue riches and success.

The drama airs on Channel 8 at 9pm on weekdays. It is also available now on demand for free on meWATCH.

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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