'Why me?' Jang Keun-suk recounts battle with thyroid cancer and being 'reborn'

When Jang Keun-suk was found to have thyroid cancer after an annual health check-up last October, his immediate reaction was: "Huh? Am I going to die?"

The 37-year-old South Korean singer-actor, who revealed his diagnosis in August, elaborated about his battle with illness in a YouTube video released on Wednesday (Sept 25).

"I don't even know how to describe the feeling, but I think many other cancer patients probably felt the same, 'Me? Why me?' Especially because I have no family history of cancer and there wasn't anything in my life that would've caused it," he recounted, adding that he took a while to accept it.

As there was a healthcare crisis happening in the country at the time, Keun-suk only managed to undergo his surgery at the end of May. He also cancelled his working schedule for the rest of this year to focus on recovering his health.

While he did not name the exact situation, South Korea has been facing a series of healthcare crises since February after doctors and medical professors walked out on hospitals and joined months-long strikes. They are protesting against the government for increasing the medical school admission quota to aid the shortage of physicians in an ageing society.

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When he was filming Netflix's reality show The Influencer, he was already aware of his illness, but "had no intention of broadcasting it to everyone".

"I just thought, 'This too shall pass.' I want to stay healthy and focus on that. I never thought about telling people, 'Hey, I'm sick, don't stress me out' or anything like that. Actually, only my family and I knew about it before the surgery," he said.

In May, Keun-suk underwent surgery at Hanyang University Hospital, because he is an alumni of the university and has an "affection" towards his alma mater. It was also his first time being hospitalised and was there for 10 days.

He recounted: "Before I went in [for the surgery], I felt excited. I had hoped that I could be reborn and I felt very courageous."

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When he woke up after his surgery, the first thought that he had was: "I did it. It's over."

"It was a very short moment for me, but it took six hours. I thought, 'I got through the six hours of battle.'"

Keun-suk assured everyone that he is "fully recovered" from the surgery and will be doing another blood test in three months to ensure that there is no metastasis.

When he was hospitalised for 10 days, he kept thinking about wanting to resume his normal life.

"Maybe I'm just complaining, but seeing the outside world reminded me of how big it really is. While in the hospital, I watched a lot of YouTube travel channels and I realised how active and varied life can be," he said.

"I've never been that into travelling but there are so many places I haven't been to. So I asked myself, 'What's the first thing I want to do when I get out?' I made a list and at the top of the list was travel."

And so he began making plans for a trip while still in hospital.

Reflecting on the experience, Keun-suk shared that it led to some major changes in his direction in life.

"It wasn't necessarily a negative experience. In fact, I see it as an opportunity to be reborn as a more positive version of myself. I want to share this positive energy and strength with as many people as possible.

"You know how life can be sometimes, right? Before something really good happens, something really bad tends to happen first. I think that's true for others going through what I'm going through right now as well," he said.

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