A Korean singer opened up about the difficulties he faced recovering his voice after thyroid cancer surgery, drawing sympathy from netizens.
Recently on Jang Jae In’s YouTube channel, Huh Gak, who competed together with her on Superstar K, appeared and reminisced about their time together, sharing various stories.
While sitting in a barbecue restaurant talking, Jang Jae In began, “I looked up how you’ve been since I heard you were coming today, but I saw you were sick.”
Huh Gak nodded and recalled when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2017. He said, “There were no signs or symptoms at all. I just thought I was tired from working.”
He continued, “On my day off, I went with my father for a health checkup. Since I wasn’t the one being examined, I had to wait a long time. The hospital suggested I take some basic tests, so I did.”
That’s when a small tumor was found. Huh Gak said, “At the time, the song ‘Only You’ had just come out and I was preparing for a concert, so I asked if surgery could be postponed, but they said it was too risky.”
Huh Gak added, “I’ve never said this publicly, but ‘Only You’ is the highest-pitched and most difficult song among the ones I have. What I performed then was probably the last live performance of ‘Only You’ in my life.”
As a fellow singer, Jang Jae In asked if battling thyroid cancer affected his voice. Huh Gak responded, “My voice changed a lot. I couldn’t force raspiness like before. After surgery, I struggled to speak until March and April, and I took almost a year off.”
He went on to say, “Even at an event in November, I kept going off key. At that time, I told myself, ‘I’m done,’ and ‘My life is over.’ I was very pessimistic,” expressing a heartfelt sentiment.
Huh Gak said it took about a year and a half to two years to fully recover, and that his family was his biggest support during that time.