‘Reply 1988’ star Choi Sung Won opens up about surviving leukemia twice

Actor Choi Sung Won has once again opened up about his most painful moments. While many viewers remember him as Noel, the youngest son of Deok-sun's family in the tvN drama 'Reply 1988', his life has been marked by a massive ordeal—two battles with leukemia—that he could not easily share with anyone.

On the July 7 broadcast of KBS 2TV's 'Happy Together: Glad We're Not Alone', Choi appears alongside actors who have been his friends for 20 years to reveal stories he has kept buried in his heart for a long time. In the released preview, he eventually shed tears while reminiscing about his past struggle with illness.

When Director Jang Hang Jun cautiously brought up the topic, saying, "Articles came out saying you were sick right when the work was doing very well," Choi replied, "I was sick in 2016, and it recurred. It was so, so difficult." He continued, confessing, "It was to the point where I didn't even want to think about it again," revealing the depth of the pain he experienced at the time.

For an actor, a work is a stage to prove one's existence. However, for Choi, the illness that arrived at his most important moment was an experience that shook not only his time as an actor but his very life as a human being.

He became known to the public through 'Reply 1988' in 2015. Playing the role of Seong Deok-sun's (Lee Hye Ri) younger brother, Noel, he hit a new turning point in his acting career, receiving great love for his natural and adorable performance. However, the moments under the brilliant spotlight did not last long. The following year, he was diagnosed with acute leukemia and had to suspend all activities.

The sudden illness posed even greater questions to the human Choi rather than the actor Choi. The situation where a healthy person must lie in a hospital room overnight and face the boundary between life and death is an experience that is difficult to explain easily with any words.

In particular, his battle with illness did not end with just one instance. Although he recovered his health after treatment and returned to acting in 2018, leukemia recurred in 2020, forcing him to begin another long fight. He eventually underwent a bone marrow transplant and was declared fully recovered after approximately two years of treatment.

The time spent enduring the illness twice left deep marks not only on his body but also on his heart. In the past, regarding the aftereffects of his illness, he candidly shared, "My physical condition fluctuates between being good and bad," and "There are inevitable aftereffects and side effects that follow receiving a transplant."

Daily discomforts such as splitting fingernails, dry eyes and mouth, and shortness of breath are not visible on the surface, but they were another battle known only to those who have experienced fighting an illness.

However, the reason Choi was able to return to the stage again was because of the times when he was not alone. Longtime friends stayed by his side, and fellow actors believed in the day he would act healthily again.

Recalling those times, his close friend Lim Cheol said, "I was seriously shocked. I cried a lot while walking that day." Park Hae-soo also shared, "There was a belief that he would recover even better and more healthily."

The philosopher Nietzsche said, "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." Of course, pain itself does not necessarily make a human grow. However, for those who choose life again even amidst extreme trials, pain takes on a new meaning.

For Choi, the time of leukemia is a memory he wants to erase, but at the same time, it is the deepest mark that made him who he is today. While fighting the disease, he did not give up on his dream of being an actor, and he is continuing his story by standing before the camera again.

Just as Noel in 'Reply 1988' grew up within the love of his family, the real-life Choi also grew again through the support of many people and his own will. Because there were times of tears hidden behind the actor who provides laughter, his acting has gained a deeper resonance than before.

Having passed through two bouts of illness and numerous moments of despair to return as an actor, Choi's story is not merely a celebrity's account of fighting illness, but a record of survival and recovery that shows how a human being rises again from a place of collapse.