![Actor Park So-dam. [Herald POP (now Herald Muse)]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/08/news-p.v1.20260608.fa3b67b92c3e448a8c6f5e9bf238b013_P1.jpg)
Actor Park So-dam has opened up about how she felt when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at age 31.
Appearing on TV Chosun's "Baekban Gihang with Cartoonist Heo Young-man" on Sunday, Park visited a restaurant in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, with cartoonist Heo Young-man and shared her experience battling the illness.
"I was so scared. I'm not usually like that, but I just didn't want to see anyone," she said, recalling that period.
She also spoke about changes to her voice — something directly tied to her career as an actor. "I wondered whether I could keep acting. An actor needs to be able to produce all kinds of sounds," she said. "It was only after that period of feeling so diminished that I was truly able to see myself."
After her recovery, Park embarked on a solo 34-day trip through Europe. Watching the northern lights in Iceland, she said, "I thought to myself — would I ever have taken on this challenge if I hadn't gotten sick?"
After three years of treatment, Park returned to work with the film "Yuryeok." On Sunday's broadcast, she also recalled spending four weeks with her arms and legs bound during filming of "The Priests."
"If my sunbae hadn't been there, I don't know how I would have held on lying in that bed," she said.
Thyroid cancer has a high incidence rate among people in their 20s and 30s, and a number of public figures have come forward about their diagnoses. Broadcaster Ji Ye-eun recently revealed that her hiatus from the entertainment industry last year was due to her own battle with thyroid cancer.
dbsdn1110@heraldcorp.com
