Actor Kwon Oh-joong revealed that he had kept hidden from his wife the fact that medical staff told him their son, who suffers from a rare disease, could die before the age of 15.
Recently, a video was released on the YouTube channel 'Sebasit Lecture' featuring Kwon Oh-joong speaking about his son's illness.
In the video, Kwon said that he had visited numerous hospitals for over 20 years in an attempt to identify his son's diagnosis. He added that he eventually heard from medical staff that his son could die before the age of 15.
"When it was time for discharge, the doctor called only me. They said that based on the numbers, it would be a type of muscular dystrophy and that the child could die before the age of 15," he recalled. "It was a huge shock, but I thought I should not tell my wife because she would have a hard time until he turned 15."
He continued, "When I walked out into the hallway, my wife asked what had been said. I told her that they were congratulating us and to raise him well, and then we went home."
Kwon's life changed after hearing the medical staff's words. "It was incredibly difficult from the very next day," he said. "In the morning, I would pretend to go to the bathroom so my wife wouldn't notice, then go to our son's room and press my ear against him to check if he was breathing. That became my daily routine until he turned 15."
He added, "After our son's 15th birthday passed, my wife brought up the topic first. She said that in fact, when we were being discharged, she had heard from the doctor that 'he will die before the age of 15.' The doctor had told both me and my wife."
His wife had also kept the information from the medical staff hidden for 15 years out of concern that Kwon would be distressed.
"My wife kept it a secret from me because she was worried that if I found out, it would interfere with my work and cause me distress," Kwon said. "There are facts that can shatter a person's life the moment they learn them. Because I knew those years would be difficult, I decided to bear it alone. On his birthday, I told her, 'You must have had it so hard.'"
Meanwhile, Kwon married in 1996 and has a son. His son suffers from a rare disease that affects only 15 people worldwide. "There is no name for the disease," Kwon previously explained. "It is a condition caused by an issue with gene number 385, so we call it 'MICU1,' but this name is a chromosome symbol."
in ENTERTAINMENT
