Breakdown of an ordinary man
Swollen neck
Not only my neck,
but also all over my upper body
It's like I'm carrying someone else's fat
What happened to this man?
SungDeok Han (67)
As he takes off his T-shirts,
we could easily notice his swollen neck
-Your neck is very swollen -Yes
There's no line between his face and neck
It's not only my neck. It's swollen down here, too
As he takes off his clothes, we could easily notice his condition
It's my whole body
Not only his chest, but also his back, too
Production Crew: What happened?
Doctors said it's a lipoma
Lipoma: a fatty tumor located just below the skin
Though its size is normally around 3cm,
his lump seems too serious to be a mere lipoma...
He can't even stand still
The weight is....
I used to be 68kg/172cm when I was healthy
It's like he's carrying 10kg all the time.
I feel like I'm carrying someone's fat
When I went to hospital in 1994,
there was a small lump
But after the surgery, it started to swell up like this
He didn't take this seriously at first
But it started to swell
and even after 29 years, it's still progressing
Despite the despair,
he put himself tight
and worked hard
with smile on his face
It's tough because my body can't keep up with my energy
His bright smile proves his firm heart
In the middle of work,
I'm working
He arrived at neighbor's house after the call
What happened?
I need your help with this cultivator
He fixes things well. I called the head of village because I don't know how to fix.
In fact, he was the head of this village!!
Fixed
How can I help you?
He has been working as the village's head for 6 years
Production Crew: Does he usually help the others?
Villager: Yes.
He helps with everything
We appreciate his help
Though it must be tough,
he never hesitate to help the others, with smile
I heard that one smile will let me live 3-4 days longer
and one frown will let me die 3-4 days earlier
I just love helping
It's evening already
-You worked til now? -Yes.
-What did you do? -persimmon tree trimming
Does he work til this late despite his condition?
Wife: That's why he goes to hospital all the time after falling from the ladder
There are so many ordinary things that he can't do alone
I could wash myself when my neck wasn't swollen
But now, I can't rotate my neck
Another thing that he has to take care of is
I get sore skins when I sweat
It's cruel. It is.
It would be great if he could relax when sleeping.
But... I can't stretch my legs when I'm lying
My legs don't touch the floor
So if I try, I hurt my back
As he can't lie comfortably, he can only sleep for a short time
He has given up on having a tight dream
I had to raise my kids by farming
I had to teach them too
So I just had to do my best to make a living and here I am.
Though his life has never been sufficient,
he and his wife managed to help their three kids finish university
PungDeok Park (wife) We went to hosptial 10 years ago
doctors didn't say anything to us, so we thought there's no way to cure it.
I do feel sorry to my children for having this thought, but..
why didn't we just use part of their tuition to
cure my husband's lump...
Father, husband... he needed help, too..
It breaks her heart
Being born like this...
I just think this is my fate.
I think that's what kept me working
Whenever he faces his body that gets swollen daily,
Even when I looked at myself, I couldn't see this part.
I didn't know it's this swollen
It's gross even to me.
He smiles awkwardly
However, there's agony behind his smile.
He can't stop worrying about losing current daily life
There must be some way to cure
Production crew and he came to hospital to get check up
Multiple lipomas are formed from his neck to whole upper body
It's also called as Madelung's Disease
The cause of it is still unknown as it's a very rare disease
The problem is
There's a big possibility that some of his fat is dyspnoea (cancer)
Progressing thorougher check to find out if it's dyspnoea
Will he be okay...?
Luckily, his fat is generally benign lipoblastoma
But the fat is currently invading the whole neck, including the back of his head
Though it's not malignant, the fat is thick enough to invade the muscle layer
It can block the airway and cause dyspnoea
Production Crew: Can it be cured?
We can't help him go back to his original shape.
but we can help him to get closer to it.
We'll remove the fat while preserving nerves, veins, and muscles around
It's not easy, but we'll do our best to restore the original shape
Thank you.
The moment of mixed feelings
I'm so glad to hear this positive news.
He shares the news with his wife first
Doctors said it must be hard but they will try their best to help us
We must appreciate...
That's good to know.
Just by talking about hope, he must feel much better
It's good in many ways. I can take photos confidently, too
I'll keep myself bright :)
We pray for your warm spring :)