‘Paralysis of the lower body’, little Kim Dong-hyun… “The goal is to return to the Octagon”
A sad story has been told that former UFC fighter Kim Dong-hyun, known as ‘Little Kim Dong-hyun’ and active as a mixed martial artist, is struggling with lower body paralysis.
However, the situation is gradually changing from pessimism to optimism.
Reporter Kwak Joon-young met.
[Reporter]
The sound of meat hitting echoes, and a man in a wheelchair concentrates on each and every movement of the officials.
This is fighter Kim Dong-hyun, who conquered the domestic stage and recorded the most wins for a Korean lightweight in the UFC with three consecutive wins.
“I relaxed my shoulders, and then when the person receiving me from below spoke, I put on my strength and quickly…”
At the end of last year, an ordeal came to him, who was familiar to fans as ‘Little Kim Dong-hyun’ and ‘Kim Dong-hyun B’ because he had the same name as ‘Stun Gun’ Dong-hyun Kim.
He left the Octagon three years ago, but he set a goal to open his own gym and train his juniors with his comeback. 먹튀검증
“My throat was a bit stiff, and after a while it hurt like I had a blockage, but if I took some painkillers, it would be fine again, and if I didn’t take it, it would get worse again, and then all of a sudden, now I’m paralyzed.”
It was a disease called ‘cervical myelopathy’ that made him unable to move his legs, which had destroyed his opponent.
He was accustomed to enduring the pain, and his symptoms worsened as he missed the right time for treatment.
Contrary to expectations that improvement would be difficult, some sensations have returned through rehabilitation, and he moves by relying on a walker.
It was his wife and 5-month-old daughter who raised him up.
“It was a hopeless situation, but since I have my family, I couldn’t collapse like this. (My wife) gave me courage by thinking about what to do in the future.”
Kim Dong-hyun said that he came to inform the current situation in order to give courage to the people around him by overcoming adversity and to catch his heart.
The goal is to ‘walk back into the Octagon on two legs’.
“I have hope and my will, so my goal is to recover as quickly as possible, and once I recover, I will return to the martial arts stage.”
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Yonhap News TV Kwak Jun-young. (kwak_ka@yna.co.kr)
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