'I felt completely alone in the world': Actor Lee Hye-young shares thoughts on beating lung cancer

Actor Lee Hye-young has been declared free of lung cancer after five years of battling the disease.

A video showing Lee undergoing her final follow-up examination was posted Thursday to her YouTube channel "Hyeyoung-i-neun Motmallyeo" (You Can't Stop Hyeyoung).

Stepping out of the hospital after the checkup, Lee flashed a smile and said the doctor had told her something she could barely process. "The professor was saying something, but I couldn't quite follow — the bottom line was that my lungs had grown," she said. "Come to think of it, breathing has felt easier than it used to," she added.

Lee was careful to frame the news in precise terms. "I haven't been fully cured. What this means is that the cancer has stopped spreading — for now, I've graduated from this lung cancer," she said.

She added that the uncertainty ahead meant she could never let her guard down. "But since you never know when or how things might change, I always have to live healthily from now on," she said. "Living healthily is really hard. Do you know how perfectly you have to take care of yourself?"

On how she manages her health, Lee said she had been advised to keep it simple. "The most important things, they say, are to avoid stress, do a lot of cardio, eat well and stay away from places with bad air," she said.

Reflecting on the past five years, Lee opened up about how isolating the experience had been. "Hearing that I was OK, the five years flashed before my eyes like a montage. It must have been so hard — only the difficult memories come to mind, not a single good one. I felt like I was completely alone in the world," she said.

Lee also left a message for others going through similar struggles. "People who are sick right now will understand exactly what I mean. There is a day like this waiting at the end, just like it came for me — so keep your spirits up and tell yourself, 'I can get better,'" she said.

She then added: "I know how hard it is to get rid of that stress. When your body is in pain, how could you not feel it? Still, a day like this does come — so do what you can, manage yourself a little better, and I hope everyone gets a good result."

Lee was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2021 and underwent major surgery to remove part of her lung without chemotherapy, then spent the five years that followed in treatment and recovery.