This is so scary. In a personal essay for The New Yorker, Emilia Clarke revealed she suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms while filming Game of Thrones. The actress, who plays Daenerys Targaryen on the hit HBO fantasy series, spoke about her health battle in the hopes of helping others who also suffer from brain injuries. Just all her dreams were coming true, Clarke writes that she "nearly lost my mind and then my life. Iâve never told this story publicly, but now itâs time."
Clarke first realized something was terribly wrong during a workout in February 2011, shortly after she wrapped filming the first season of Thrones. âMy trainer had me get into the plank position and I immediately felt as though an elastic band were squeezing my brain,â she wrote. âSomehow, almost crawling, I made it to the locker room. I reached the toilet, sank to my knees and proceeded to be violently, voluminously ill. Meanwhile, the pain âshooting, stabbing, constricting pain â was getting worse. At some level, I knew what was happening â my brain was damaged.â
After being rushed to the hospital, Clarke was ultimately diagnosed with a subarachnoid hemorrhage. She describes this condition as âa life-threatening type of stroke, caused by bleeding into the space surrounding the brain.â She underwent a âminimally invasiveâ surgery called âendovascular coiling." Surgeons had to seal off the aneurysm using a wire that was inserted into one of her femoral arteries in her groin.
âWhen I woke, the pain was unbearable. I had no idea where I was. My field of vision was constricted," Clarke recalled. After the surgery, she also suffered from aphasia, which is the loss of ability to understand or express speech. âMy full name is Emilia Isobel Euphemia Rose Clarke, but now I couldnât remember it. Instead, nonsense words tumbled out of my mouth and I went into a blind panic. Iâd never experienced fear like that â a sense of doom closing in. I could see my life ahead, and it wasnât worth living. I am an actor; I need to remember my lines. Now I couldnât recall my name.â
Clarke candidly spoke about that sense of doom she felt, revealing she even asked her doctors to let her die if the aphasia did not pass. A week after her surgery, the aphasia did pass and she was released from the hospital a month later. Following her first aneurysm, Clarke returned to the Game of Thrones set for filming. âSeason 2 would be my worst. I didnât know what [my character] Daenerys was doing. If I am truly being honest, every minute of every day I thought I was going to die," she said.
Two years later, doctors found a second aneurysm during a routine brain scan in New York City. While her doctors attempted to fix it with the same non-invasive procedure they performed the first time, it ultimately did not work. Clarke then underwent a procedure where surgeons had to go directly through her skull. âThe recovery was even more painful than it had been after the first surgery,â Clarke said. âI looked as though I had been through a war more gruesome than any that Daenerys experienced.â
Thankfully, though, Clarke has since âhealed beyond [her] most unreasonable hopes.â She's partnering with a charity called SameYou, which aims to help those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. âIâm so happy to be here to see the end of this story and the beginning of whatever comes next," Clarke wrote.
So are we.
Photo: Getty