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Topics: Emilia Clarke, Health
Anish Vij
Emilia Clarke has opened up about the trauma of experiencing two ‘excruciating’ aneurysms in her early adult life.
The Game of Thrones actor, 38, claimed that she is missing ‘quite a bit’ of her brain following two aneurysms in 2011 and 2013.
According to the NHS, a brain aneurysm is a bulge in a blood vessel in your brain caused by a weakness in the vessel wall - and if it bursts it can cause fatal internal bleeding.
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Her first aneurysm happened in 2011 during the first season of the hit HBO show, when she collapsed during a workout and was diagnosed with a subarachnoid haemorrhage.
She underwent emergency surgery and suffered from temporary aphasia.
Then in 2013, during a routine brain scan, doctors found a second aneurysm, which later ruptured, requiring another surgery.
Thankfully, Clarke lived to tell the tale, but it's not come without its consequences.
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"The amount of my brain that is no longer usable - it’s remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions," she said on BBC’s Sunday Morning.
"I am in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that."
When asked about seeing a scan of her brain, Emilia said: "There’s quite a bit missing, which always makes me laugh.
"Because strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn’t get blood for a second, it’s gone. And so the blood finds a different route to get around but then whatever bit it’s missing is therefore gone."
Prior to this, the MBE described the 'excruciating pain' she suffered as a result of the aneurysms, which caused repeated vomiting and left her trying to stay conscious and maintain her brain function.
After undergoing surgery which she previously admitted was the most pain she's ever been through, she is now able to live her life and continue with acting.
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Clarke has set up the charity SameYou with her mum, with the pair being appointed MBEs in the New Year Honours for services to people with brain injuries in 2023.
READ MORE:
EMILIA CLARKE WAS WORRIED SHE'D BE FIRED FROM GAME OF THRONES AFTER BRAIN INJURY
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Back in 2019, the star shared never-before-seen images of her in hospital following one of the aneurysms while speaking about the difficult road to recovery.
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In an interview with CBS, the Daenerys Targaryen actor said: "The first time it was difficult, with the second one I found it much harder to stay optimistic.
"[I coped with it as a] a day to day thing. I definitely went through a period of being... down - putting it mildly.
"The second one, there was a bit of my brain that actually died. If a part of your brain doesn't get blood to it for a minute, it will just no longer work. It's like you short circuit. So, I had that."
She went on to describe how her leading role in GOT may just have saved her life, adding: "You go on the set and you play a badass character, and you walk through fire, and you speak to hundreds of people, and you're being asked to be - to work as hard as you possibly can.
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"And that became the thing that just saved me from considering my own mortality."
Additional words by Jess Battison.