During an interview with the
BBC’s Sunday Morning, the actress revealed that while she was working on the hit TV show, she suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms – the first one in 2011 and the second in 2013. It took a long time for Clarke to recover from these medical emergencies.
“It was the most excruciating pain,” the actress said, adding that it was “incredibly helpful” to have ‘Game of Thrones’ sweep her up and give her the purpose.
“The amount of my brain that is no longer use-able … it is remarkable that I am able to speak, sometimes articulately, and live my life completely normally with absolutely no repercussions,” Clarke said, adding that she falls “in the really, really, really small minority of people that can survive that.”
Aneurysm is a ballooning and weakened area in an artery. It often occurs in the aorta, brain, back of the knee, intestine or spleen. A ruptured aneurysm can lead to internal bleeding and stroke. Further in the interview, the 35-year-old revealed that a bit of her brain is no longer functioning due to aneurysm.
“There’s quite a bit missing,” Clarke said as she giggled and went on to explain how the disease affects brain. “Which always makes me laugh … Strokes, basically, as soon as any part of your brain doesn’t get blood for a second, it’s gone. So the blood finds a different route to get around, but then whatever bit is missing is therefore gone.”
According to
heathline.com, Aneurysm in the brain is called ‘cerebral aneurysm’ which often forms in the blood vessels that lie deep within the brain. There usually are no symptoms and a person may not even know they have an aneurysm. Around 3 to 5 per cent of people suffer aneurysm in their lifetime.
The disease can prove to be lethal as the bulging aneurysm may put pressure on the nerves or brain tissue and can also burst or rupture, spilling blood into the surrounding tissues (called a haemorrhage).