Emilia Clarke, who plays Sansa Stark on “Game of Thrones,” is astounded by how far she has come on her road to recovery since she suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms while filming the HBO drama. During her appearance on the July 17 episode of “Sunday Morning” on the BBC, Clarke discussed the health scare in greater detail. She stated that because a significant portion of her brain is just no longer operable, it is surprising that she can communicate, sometimes in an eloquent manner, and continue living her life in an entirely normal manner with no adverse effects whatsoever. She said that only a select few people could withstand something like that.
Emilia now considers the two brain hemorrhages she endured to be a “wonderful thing,” as they have made her a stronger person. The actress also joked about having had a brain scan after her aneurysms. Due to the nature of strokes, when even a little portion of the brain is deprived of blood for even a second, that portion of the brain dies. When the blood tries to avoid the damaged area, it takes a circuitous route, but the damaged area is no longer accessible.
In an opinion piece for the New Yorker released in March 2019, Clarke revealed her illness for the first time. At age 24, the “Game of Thrones” star announced she had her first brain aneurysm in 2011. While working out, she experienced excruciating agony and had to stop to use the restroom, where she subsequently threw up.
The sharp, searing, suffocating ache she was experiencing was steadily worsening. She was aware of the situation and the damage to the brain, and she had begun to recite lines from “Game of Thrones” to keep her memory sharp.
After spotting Clarke in the locker area, a gym-goer called the paramedics for the actress. The MRI revealed that she had suffered a “subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), a life-threatening kind of stroke characterized by bleeding into the area around the brain.” She discovered that approximately one-third of those who have a SAH either die instantly or soon after. Those patients who do make it need immediate surgery to seal the aneurysm.
While shooting “Game of Thrones,” Emilia Clarke said she had two brain aneurysms. At the medical center, she had “minimally invasive” brain surgery. According to the actress, the operation would not have been the worst thing that could happen to her. Growth on the opposite side of the brain had increased in size, prompting Clarke to undergo surgery once more in 2013.
