'Didn't want it to define me': 'Emily in Paris' star Ashley Park on recovering from blood cancer
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: 'Emily in Paris' star Ashley Park has opened up about one of the difficult phases of life and revealed that she was diagnosed with blood cancer at the age of 15. The actress plays the role of Mindy Chen, a Chinese Korean former Nanny and aspiring singer who is Emily's (Lily Collins) first friend in Paris.
The series has met with positive reviews and has become quite popular among young adults. Park received a lot of recognition and proved to be the biggest role of her career in Television. However, this is the first time she has opened up about her personal life and how cancer almost made her change her lifestyle completely.
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In a recent interview with SHAPE, the 31-year-old actress shared that she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia when the actress was just 15 years of age and underwent rigorous chemotherapy. During her treatment, she was under observation for 24 hours and 7 days and doctors told her what she could and couldn't do while being in chemotherapy. Despite being in pain because of the life-threatening disease, Park took this as a motivation to change her life completely.
While in the discussion, she also noted that she wanted to defeat cancer and "didn't want" it to define her.
"Once cancer physically left my body, I made it my mission not to let it affect my life. "I didn't want it to define me. People were so worried about me, and I became the person that was like, 'I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I am going to go after what I want and just do it,'" Park said during the interview.
Her time at the hospital made her realize how important it is for her to take care of her body because being an actor can take a toll on the body and it was vital for her to take care of herself to work even harder.
She said, "When you're performing so much, you realize that your body is your vessel — it's your instrument. So, you have to treat it as such and really take care of it."
For the uninitiated, Leukemia is called cancer of the body's blood-forming tissues, including the bone marrow and the lymphatic system. The symptoms include fatigue, weight loss, frequent infections, and easy bleeding or bruising. According to Mayo Clinic, the treatment is highly variable and includes monitoring. The treatment includes chemotherapy followed by radiation and a stem-cell transplant.
The actress will be seen reprising her role in Season 3 of 'Emily in Paris' which will be available for streaming exclusively on Friday, December 22.