Rising swimming star Rikako Ikee called her recent therapy for leukemia the turning point in her life in a televised interview aired on Wednesday.
The 19-year-old Ikee, the MVP of the 2018 Asian Games and a gold medal candidate for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics before she was diagnosed with leukemia last February, is currently training in hopes of competing at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
Although Ikee said she was positive after getting the diagnosis, and vowed on social media to give it her best shot, she said she soon fell into despair from the nausea and pain caused by anti-cancer drugs.