Aneurysm: what is it? After two surgeries, Emilia Clarke admits that part of her brain has disappeared
Emilia Clarke, an English actress, has spoken out about the brain aneurysms she had while filming Game of Thrones.
On July 17, the 35-year-old celebrity spoke about how amazed she was to be able to live without any impact on Sunday morning’s BBC One.
“Considering how much of my brain has stopped working, it’s amazing that I can still speak and function normally. I’m in that very small percentage of people who can get through this.”
“Considering how much of my brain isn’t working anymore, it’s amazing that I can occasionally speak with some intelligence and live a perfectly normal life without experiencing any ill effects. I belong to the extremely, extremely, extremely small minority of people who can take it.
Clarke has previously spoken about the two brain aneurysm surgeries she underwent in 2011 and 2013.
What is an aneurysm and how did Emilia Clarke get one?
According to the Mayo Clinic, a brain aneurysm is a protrusion or bulge in the blood vessels of the brain. This often resembles “a berry dangling from a stalk” and is caused by a weak blood vessel wall.
According to the website, aneurysms can rupture or leak, which can cause bleeding between the brain and the protective tissue. This immediately poses a life-threatening situation that requires medical intervention.
Along with providing a health update, Clarke mentioned the results of her brain scans, saying:
“There’s a lot missing! Which always strikes me as funny. Because during a stroke, any area of the brain that loses blood, even for a short time, is effectively destroyed. To avoid this, the blood takes a different path, but what it lacked is now lost.
Emilia Clarke battled aphasia, a condition that affects a person’s ability to speak and communicate due to aneurysms. She also described the intensity of it, claiming there was a point at which she couldn’t remember her own name.
The Me Before You actress also mentioned that she vomited frequently and went through “excruciating agony” from aneurysms, but she said Game of Thrones got her through it.
“Having Game of Thrones pull me in and give me that purpose has been very helpful.”
Emilia Clarke shared photos from the hospital on her Instagram account in 2019 after undergoing surgery for her illness.
The Above Suspicion actress admitted to CBS Sunday morning that the first surgery she had was challenging, the second time “I found it harder to stay happy.”
Complex, a news source, reports that Clarke previously admitted she had trouble recognizing herself in the mirror because her face looked like she had used narcotics. She is said to have said:
“I didn’t want to see my own face after my procedures. I had a lot of water retention and half my face was quite swollen from being so drugged from being in the hospital.”
The actress continued by saying:
“I felt so unattractive on the inside. I could see the suffering behind my eyes as I see it now. And absolutely nothing can compensate for that.”
The charity SameYou was founded in 2019 by Emilia Clarke with the intention of raising money for easy access to neurorehabilitation after a brain injury or stroke.