Supermodel Anok Yai has opened up about a serious health battle, revealing she was recently diagnosed with a congenital lung defect that has been “overworking my heart and slowly destroying my lungs.”
Sharing the news on Instagram Friday, the 28-year-old posted several clips from her hospital recovery and detailed the year-long struggle. “For the past year I’ve been dealing with this silent battle,” she wrote.
Yai explained that she had been largely asymptomatic for most of her life but discovered the condition after developing a persistent cough. “[The cough] turned to chest pains, bouts of coughing up blood, then at times struggling to breathe,” she recalled.
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Initially trying to “outwork or outrun” the problem, Yai soon realized that “the universe has a way of slowing you down and waking you up.” She decided to prioritize her health, undergoing a successful robotic lung surgery. “So, yesterday I had a successful robotic lung surgery thanks to Dr. Robert Cerfolio and his gracious and talented team who I am forever indebted to for giving me more time,” she wrote.
Robotic thoracic surgery, according to the American Lung Association, is a minimally invasive procedure sometimes used for lung cancer cases, which can remove diseased lung tissue and surrounding lymph nodes.
Yai expressed gratitude to her entire medical team, including Dr. Harmik Soukiasian and the staff at Beverly Hills Concierge Health for discovering her condition. She also thanked the nurses at NYU Langone Hospital and her friends and family “for being the first thing I saw when I woke up.”
“For now, I’m healing … but I’ll be back,” Yai concluded. “See ya.”
The supermodel’s candid update has drawn an outpouring of support from fans and fellow celebrities, highlighting her resilience and determination to return to her career and life stronger than ever.
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