SINGAPORE – Local actor Leon Jay Williams, known for his sunny image, was recently diagnosed with stage II thyroid cancer.

The 49-year-old first revealed the condition in an exclusive Dec 8 interview with Taiwanese newspaper United Daily News (UDN).

Williams returned to Singapore in 2020 after more than 20 years in Taiwan and China, where he made his name with Taiwanese idol dramas like La Robe De Mariee Des Cieux (2004) and Green Forest, My Home (2005).

The artiste, who is of English, German, Japanese and Chinese descent, is married to a Taiwanese, Joyce, and they have a 10-year-old daughter.

Williams went for a vacation to an Indonesian island with his family in August and had back and waist pain after returning to Singapore. The doctors recommended a full health screening after hospital check-ups showed no abnormalities. A magnetic resonance imaging scan revealed a 3cm malignant tumour in his thyroid.

He underwent two operations at a private hospital in Singapore in September to remove tumours measuring 3cm and 1.1cm.

He was hospitalised again in October for five days to undergo radiation therapy. The total cost for the three hospital stays amounted to approximately $166,640, according to Singapore’s Shin Min Daily News in a Dec 9 report.

Williams said the diagnosis came so suddenly he had little time to process it. Concerned that the radiation exposure might affect his family, he moved into an empty apartment he owned to live alone, much like self-isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The artiste, who is currently in Japan, told Shin Min that accompanying his daughter on this skiing holiday became his biggest motivation during his treatment.

“I usually plan trips together with my daughter during her school holidays. We had already arranged a skiing trip six months ago and she was really looking forward to it,” he told the newspaper.

“I didn’t want my illness to disappoint her, and I ...