Taiwanese host He Yi-hang succumbs to colorectal cancer

Veteran Taiwanese host He Yi-hang has passed away from colorectal cancer on Monday (June 3). He was 64.

Yi-hang found out he had stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2011, but after undergoing an operation to remove the tumour, Yi-hang decided to stop chemotherapy treatments and did not visit the hospital again, even for his yearly check-ups.

However, Yi-hang did not reveal his cancer diagnosis to anyone, as he was afraid of wrongly influencing the public due to his decision not to receive treatment. In order to manage his condition, the host changed his lifestyle, and took up qigong, going for frequent massages to alleviate his pain. But, the 64-year-old eventually succumbed to cancer, and passed away at the Taipei Veterans General Hospital on Monday.

His good friend, Taiwanese singer Yu Tien, who was reportedly at the hospital with Yi-hang and his family, said: “He Yi-hang was always very playful, and often teased me. This is really the biggest joke that he’s played (on us). He’s still young, this shouldn’t happen to him. But, we can’t go against the will of the heavens, and can only send him off. He was smiling, and did not seem to be in pain. He was very thin, but his skin looked good, and he did not have a single wrinkle,” Ya-ping said.

In tears, Yu Tie shared that Yi-hang did not have any last words. “There was no time to say anything, there’s so much that we didn’t get to say. We didn’t expect him to leave so soon. Yesterday, he requested to leave the intensive care unit, and he was just transferred into a normal ward today, only for him to leave on the same day,” he said.

Yi-hang, who used to be a military regular, went into hosting after his discharge. He started off co-hosting a show with Taiwanese entertainer Chu Keliang, his mentor, who also passed away from colorectal cancer in 2017.

In 2006, he then went on to co-host Golden Night Club with Taiwanese actor-host Peng Chia-Chia. They later won the Golden Bell Award for the Best Host in a Variety Programme. Since then, Yi-hang went on to host a number of different programmes, becoming a familiar face on television.

Photos: PBE Media