Singer Sean revealed the first glimpse of the 'Dream Hospital,' a Lou Gehrig's disease nursing hospital, established with the late Park Seung-il, co-representative of the Seung-il Hope Foundation, who passed away in September last year.
On 5th, the YouTube channel 'With Sean' uploaded a video titled 'The 23.9 billion won building we've secretly kept, revealed for the first time.' In the video, Sean said, 'I built a building in Yongin,' and added, 'I worked really hard for 15 years to complete the building.' He then ran approximately 42 km from the Hanam Interchange in Seoul to the 'Seung-il Hope Nursing Hospital' in Yongin.
Upon arriving in front of the hospital, he introduced it, saying, 'My building,' and 'It is the first Lou Gehrig's disease nursing hospital in the country, no, the world, dreamed of by my friend, the late co-representative Park Seung-il and me.' He further noted that it is 'a very special hospital that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world' and revealed that it took 239 million won to construct, with groundbreaking in 2023.
The deceased was active as a basketball player at Yonsei University and Kia Motors and worked as a coach at the Ulsan Mobiis in the 2002 professional basketball league before being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, battling it for 23 years. After establishing the non-profit Seung-il Hope Foundation with Sean in 2011, various fundraising activities were conducted for the construction of the Lou Gehrig's disease nursing hospital, such as the Ice Bucket Challenge. However, the loss was felt deeply as the deceased passed away just three months before the completion date after a long battle.
On this day, the deceased's sister, Park Seong-ja, executive director of the Seung-il Hope Foundation, and Ko Jae-chun, executive secretary of the foundation, also appeared and presented their faces. The three introduced the hospital's exterior, lobby, auditorium, patient rooms, and more in detail. The interior design is still not completed, and it is expected to open in March.
The hospital has been designed with low and large windows so that patients can see outside from their beds, removing thresholds and widening doorways to allow access to the outdoor garden while lying down. It aims to let patients, who retain cognitive abilities, feel the outside world as much as possible. A 'donation wall' is also planned to be installed in one corner of the hospital lobby. Director Park explained, 'It is being made because more than 350,000 people donated and participated in the campaign, enabling this space (the hospital) to be realized.'
Sean recounted his first meeting with the deceased, saying, 'Seung-il could only blink his eyes, so we wrote a book titled 'Writing Hope with My Eyes' using an eye mouse. I happened to read that book, and it mentioned Seung-il's dream of establishing the 'first Lou Gehrig's disease nursing hospital in the country.' At that time, I had about 100 million won saved for something that was definitely needed. I was contemplating where to use it when I thought, 'It would be fitting to give this money to fulfill this friend's dream,' and I prepared a 100 million won check and went to find Seung-il.'
He continued, 'At first, I didn't know how to approach him. Seung-il was one year older than me, but he came to me casually, saying, 'Let's be friends.' I delivered the check and left, but perhaps because he was concerned about my back pain, he sent me a box of oysters, saying, 'Oysters are good for your back.' He was truly a thoughtful and deep-hearted friend.'
Sean said, 'Seung-il wrote in the book that if he had about 1 billion won, he could build the hospital. It was naive for both Seung-il and me to think that. It continued to rise to a 23.9 billion won building.' Of the construction costs, 12 billion won was funded by the government, and the remaining 11.9 billion won was raised through donations and corporations.
He expressed, 'This is a hospital that Seung-il dreamed of for 22 years. It's very regrettable that he passed away without seeing its completion.' He added, 'Running from Seoul to Yongin is the last gift I am giving to Seung-il.' Lastly, Sean conveyed his gratitude to his fellow entertainers, seniors, and citizens involved in fundraising activities like the Ice Bucket Challenge that started in 2014, and he personally showcased the Ice Bucket Challenge in sub-zero weather.