A Hot Hideout mala chain co-founder, 26, diagnosed with stage 3 rare blood cancer

Lee Ray Sheng, the co-founder and CEO of mala chain, A Hot Hideout, has been diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer.

The 26-year-old, who was on Forbes' 30 under 30 list for 2025, took to Instagram on Jan. 29, 2026, to share his diagnosis.

Lee shared that for the last couple of months, "he was in and out of hospital on multiple occasions," but doctors were unable to find out what was wrong.

Lee was eventually diagnosed with stage 3 SPTCL T-cell Lymphoma, a rare type of blood cancer that affects less than 1 per cent of all non-Hodgkin lymphoma cases, according to the National Library of Medicine.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Lee Ray Sheng (@raysheng_)

The diagnosis

In his Instagram post, Lee stated that "2025 was a blast", his business was "doubling by both outlets and revenue, so career and business-wise, things were going super well".

His business's topline in 2025 was over S$23 million, according to his LinkedIn.

However, behind the scenes, Lee was in and out of the hospital several times.

"My resting HR was super high, i had constant fevers and small little viruses would make me really ill."

Lee tried to live a healthier lifestyle, cutting down on drinking and improving his exercise regime but said it did not help much.

In early January, Lee finally found out the reason behind his bouts of illness.

"PET scans showed active spots across my abdomen, legs, neck and possibly my lungs."

Autoimmune diseases occur in approximately 20 per cent of SPTCL T-cell Lymphoma cases, and most cases have a good prognosis, stated National Library of Medicine.

In about 50 per cent of cases, symptoms include fever, chills, weight loss, low blood cell counts, muscle aches, and elevated liver function tests.

The disease is also known to cause skin lesions.

Younger brother passed due to similar disease

Lee stated that his close friends know that he lost his younger brother to a similar disease.

Hence, Lee has made it a point to live his life differently.

"To live it to the fullest, to the max, often pushing myself to extreme ends just to experience life.

My mantra has always been to live like an author writing a fairytale, where you want readers to keep reading to the next chapter."

He said that looking back, he is proud to see what he achieved thus far.

Lee wrote that chemotherapy would ideally take six months, and a stem cell transplant would take another six.

In the meantime, Lee would use his downtime to learn more and keep his mind stimulated.

"As I begin this next battle, I start it with strong optimism, and I can’t wait.

See you guys again as soon as I’m on the other side of this.

Alongside me would be my family and some world-class doctors from Singapore, so I’m in great hands."

Related article

Top photo from Ray Sheng/Instagram