In 2019 Emilia Clarke revealed that she had survived two brain aneurysms in 2011 and 2013 that forced her to undergo three operations in secret while recording the Game of Thrones series.
The actress wanted to make this information public to draw attention to the SameYou organization that she created to help people with brain injuries because she knows that she is one of the lucky few who has recovered from one like hers without major physical consequences.
“It’s incredible that I can still speak, sometimes even in an articulate way, and that I can live my life normally, without any repercussions, with the large part of my brain that no longer works. I am part of that minority very, very, very small number of people who have survived something like this“, explained the actress on the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme.
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After her first aneurysm, Emilia suffered from temporary aphasia, a language disorder that prevents or hinders verbal, written or gestural communication, and during that time she was not even able to pronounce her full name.
Luckily, the passing of the weeks and the therapy managed to get her to speak normally again despite the fact that she is still missing “quite a few parts” of her brain.
“With strokes, basically what happens is that any part of your brain that is cut off from its blood supply, even for a second, dies. The blood has to find a different route, but that missing piece is gone forever“, he explained.