Emily in Paris star Ashley Park opens up about blood cancer diagnosis: "My parents were so worried"

Park, who plays the character of Mindy Chen in the Netflix series, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 15. The aggressive cancer left her covered in bruises and led to the loss of her hair due to intense treatment.

Today, Park enjoys a successful career, but her future was uncertain when she first received her diagnosis. Speaking on the My First Time podcast, she explained how her initial symptoms were hindering her time at school.

The 33-year-old said: "It’s so crazy to be the woman I am now, it’s very full circle. It was right before Christmas that I was diagnosed. I danced and I did a lot of extra-curriculars and was late to all my classes because I couldn’t climb the stairs in time. I had bruises everywhere and I had lost so much weight. But everyone is changing when you are 15. I was like, ‘Great, my growth spurt, I’m losing all my baby fat’.

“I was doing High School Musical and I loved theatre so much. I was starting to get very sick and we put off going to the doctor for a while. I remember laughing about my bruises with friends. We finally went to the pediatrician after school and they took some blood and said, ‘You need to go to the ER right now’. I said, ‘I’m going to go to rehearsal first’. They said, ‘You should call your dad’. We went to the ER that night and I didn’t leave hospital for eight months."

During her treatment, the Make-A-Wish Foundation granted Ashley a wish, and she chose to visit New York City to see her first Broadway show. That experience solidified her desire to pursue a career in theatre and film.

Park added: “Once I left hospital I decided, ‘I don’t want this to define me, and one day I will have long hair again and people will have no idea’. But it is something that has defined me, despite me not wanting it to. I had the adult form of leukaemia, which is more intense and spreads faster. But I see it as a blessing because, instead of a three-year treatment protocol, it was really vigorous. I never thought theatre was a career possibility but, because I survived cancer, my parents were like, ‘You can do whatever you want’.

“Millie was the show I did when I came out and I believe I was not supposed to return to school. It was insane. No wonder my parents were so worried. I was this bald girl and I wasn’t supposed to be walking and I’m doing Millie. The wigs I wore in that show are all from my own hair.”