Japanese national record holder Rikako Ikee has been diagnosed with leukemia, sharing the news in a tweet on Tuesday.
ご報告です。 pic.twitter.com/zP2ykLRgCD
— 池江 璃花子 (@rikakoikee) February 12, 2019
Ikee wrote a lengthy post in Japanese. When roughly translated, it reads:
“Thank you all for your support and everyone involved. Thank you for your support and support from around the day. At this time, I was diagnosed with an emergency return from Australia as a bad condition, and I have a diagnosis of “leukemia.”
“Myself, I still can’t believe it, and it’s a confused situation. But if you do a solid treatment, it’s also a disease that will heal. As a schedule for the future, I have to give up the competition of the Japanese Championship. Now I’m going to take a little rest and devote myself to treatment.”
According to an article that appeared in The Japan Times, the 18-year old is currently hospitalized after the disease was found in the early stages. The swimmer had been training down in Australia, but cut the trip short after chronic fatigue and poor results in training.
“I had never seen her breathing as heavily as that,” her coach, Jiro Miki shared with The Japan Times. “We took her to a local hospital to check her blood and heart but decided to return to Japan as quickly as possible to undergo further tests,” he elaborated. “But as for her motivation to beat this disease, I can only bow my head at her determination.”
Ikee will be skipping the upcoming National Championships in April, which serve as Japan’s qualifying meet for the 2019 World Championships, in order to undergo treatment for the disease.
“I will rest a little and dedicate myself to treatment,” the swimmer said. “I will strive to show you an even stronger version of myself. Thank you for your encouragement and warm thoughts.”
Ikee is the national record holder in the 50, 100, and 200 free and 50 and 100 fly, and was named the MVP of the 2018 Asian Games after winning six gold medals, all in record time.
Olympian and world record holder Sarah Sjostrom was one of the first international swimmers to throw support behind Ikee, posting on her Instagram account that her “eyes are filled with tears” reading the news of her friend’s diagnosis, and that she was “Sending all my strength and love to you!”
The Japan Times contributed to this report.
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Damn…SHE looks soo Healthy….
All the Best n Blessed Be…
I hope she can have a full recovery and come back even stronger than before ?
Prayers
Prayers for her and her family is she faces cancer.
Remélem,hogy legyőzi!
Get better soon xx
Prayers for her.
????praying????
Wishing her a speedy recovery. X
Get well soon
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ABRALE – Associação Brasileira de Linfoma e LeucemiaMerula Anargyrou Steagall
Terrible – good luck – god bless
Get well soon !
Prayers???
Prayers for her speedy and healthy recovery! Hopefully, she will come back as strong as ever.
Speedy and complete recovery from the disease
Pray for her !
Praying for her recovery
Wishing her a full recovery. ??
????Praying to your recovery champion
My 1.5 year daughter last year diagnosed leukemia..i was a swimmer also and i know what is that. Hang on sister everything will be fine. We are praying for you
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Speedy recovery I have leukemia A.L.L. And beat it so can you
Wishing you a speedy recovery xxx and love through this awful illness
Ok God
Prayers for her, her medical team, and healing!
Speedy Recovery
Jordan Aldrich
..syafakillah
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Swimax William Reynaga terrible!
La natación además se vio conmovida por lo de Adrian , Pernille Blume y el italiano Manuel Bortuzzo. Que todos ellos se mejoren.
Swimax William Reynaga así es…mala racha de los ídolos.
Sending you prayers of healing… god bless you!
Get well Rikako! Praying for you in Anaheim
Horrendous news! Thoughts & prayers with you and your family Rikako.