Ashley Park thinks it is a "miracle" she's still alive
The 33-year-old star - who battled leukaemia when she was 15 - was hospitalised with critical septic shock in January and despite her "fluke" health battles, the 'Emily in Paris' actress feels "lucky"
9 August 2024
Noting how using humour "makes it easier" to talk about her problems, she told the new issue of America's Cosmopolitan magazine: "As an adult, I understand what coping mechanisms are. Stuff I didn't know when I was a teenager.
"And even though both of the extreme illnesses I've had have been such flukes in a way - no one who's 15 should have cancer, and no one who's my age should have septic shock - I feel lucky, actually. It's been kind of a miracle how I've recovered."
Ashley was on vacation with her boyfriend and co-star Paul Forman when she fell ill this year and she doesn't "think[she] would have made it" without his support in unfamiliar surroundings.
She said: "When I went to the ER and ICU for the first time, I was in the Maldives with Paul. I don't think I would've made it without him. Everybody else was on the other side of the world from us.
"Once I got there, I got really sick with tonsillitis. Then everything really started going wrong.
"I was in different ICUs and then air ambulances for a month. I couldn't leave because I wasn't allowed to fly.
"When I finally could, it was a shorter distance to Paris than to LA, so I had to go straight to Paris to recover, not home.
"When I woke up in the hospital and they said, 'You have septic shock.' I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I am shocked I have sepsis!' "
Ashley's hospitalisation was a wake-up call for her and she's pledged to take better care of herself in the future.
She admitted: "I pushed myself too far. I was not listening to my body.
"Now, I'm thinking about my future and asking, 'Am I putting myself in a position where I'm going to be able to do my best?' That starts with my health.
"I'm getting back to my old self. I look and feel better, and I'm trying to stay as stable as I can and keep the same energy that people expect."
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