Emilia Clarke lost ‘a large chunk’ of her brain despite surviving two extremely serious illnesses

Emilia Clarke says she’s missing ‘a big chunk’ of her brain after suffering two brain aneurysms while filming Game of Thrones.

The British actress is well known for her role as Queen Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO fantasy hit, as well as her roles in I am before you AND Last holidays.

However, after a few months of filming the first series HE GET in 2011 – the 37-year-old suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a ruptured aneurysm, as a result of which the star had to undergo surgery.

According to the NHS, an aneurysm is caused by a weakening of the wall of a blood vessel, usually at a branch point, causing the blood vessel to bulge.

Most of them only cause noticeable symptoms, such as a sudden headache, stiff neck and nausea, after they rupture, at which point it is considered a medical emergency.

The NHS also reports that just 1 in 15,000 people in England experience a ruptured brain aneurysm each year.

In 2013, Emilia had a second aneurysm and underwent surgery a second time.

During an appearance on the BBC Sunday morning, this HE GET The star heaped praise on the doctors who helped her lead a normal life again, and also revealed that parts of her brain are now “unusable” due to permanent damage.

“It’s amazing that I’m able to speak, sometimes clearly, and live a completely normal life without any consequences,” she said.

“I’m in a really, really, really small minority of people who can get through this.”

The actress continued to discuss what brain scans look like after aneurysms, saying, “There’s quite a bit missing here! That always makes me laugh. “Because strokes, basically when a part of the brain doesn’t get blood for a second, it disappears.

“And so the blood finds another way to move, but then the part that’s missing disappears.”

As a result of the aneurysms, Emilia suffered from aphasia, a disorder in which a person has difficulty speaking and for a short time was unable to remember her own name.

Fortunately, her memory did not suffer from long-term damage.

It was not until 2019 that Emilia spoke about her illness for the first time, describing her shocking experiences in an article for The New Yorker.

“I got to the toilet, dropped to my knees and began to vomit violently and profusely,” she wrote.

“Meanwhile, the pain—stabbing, stabbing, squeezing—increased. On some level, I knew what was happening: My brain was damaged.”

She added: “For patients who survive, immediate treatment to close the aneurysm is essential as there is a very high risk of further, often fatal, bleeding.

“If I were to live and avoid the terrible shortages, I would have to have emergency surgery. “And even then there were no guarantees.”

Emilia and her mother founded the charity Same You to support people recovering from brain disease. Mother and daughter have been awarded the Order of the British Empire for their charity work.