Emilia Clarke Shares Her Life Story & How She Coped With Subarachnoid Haemorrhage

Emilia Clarke, popularly known for her character Daenerys Targaryen in the HBO series, Game of Thrones has earned love from fans worldwide. Her strong, powerful character speaks for her dragon courage in real life too. Last week, in an exclusive article she revealed the news of her two near-fatal brain surgeries during the initial shooting of GoT seasons.

Emilia suffered from a brain haemorrhage caused by Aneurysm or rupture of blood vessels in the brain and underwent surgeries not just once but twice. It was back in 2011 during her workout session when she passed out on the floor and was rushed to the hospital where it surfaced that she has experienced an arterial rupture causing Subarachnoid Haemorrhage (SAH), a stroke that can be fatal.

After all these years, Emilia shares her story with the world and talks about her trauma. She recalls the days filled with excruciating pain followed by bouts of morphine to keep her going through her normal life. Near-death surgeries have given her insight and power to speak up and help people know the importance of staying healthy and aware.

What Is Aneurysms?

Enlargement or bulging of an artery caused by weakness in the arterial wall is referred to as Aneurysms. Bulging of an artery can rupture cells and cause internal bleeding which can lead to fatal complications. There are typically three types of Aneurysms namely Aortic, Cerebral and Peripheral.

Aortic Aneurysms – Aorta is the largest artery in the human body, supplying blood to different parts of the body. A normal aorta ranges from 2-3 cm but can bulge beyond 5cm with an aneurysm.

Cerebral Aneurysm – Bulging of arteries that supply blood to the brain is known as intracranial aneurysms. Ruptured arteries may result in a stroke known as Subarachnoid Haemorrhage.

Peripheral Aneurysm – Bulging of peripheral arteries for example behind the knee, near the spleen, femoral artery etc. These peripheral arteries are less likely to rupture comparative to Aortic aneurysm.

Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysm

Most aneurysms are clinically silent, which means you will see no symptoms until aneurysm ruptures. An aneurysm is caused either by blood pressure, smoking or trauma. Headache, numbness, dilated pupil and change in vision are some of the symptoms. Greater concerns arise when an aneurysm bleeds internally, which can cause a stroke or even death. Blood may leak into other membranes which might result in Haemorrhage. Blood in the brain and its surrounding membranes may result in a severe headache, which people often describe it as “worst headache of their life.”

History of acute headaches associated with a stiff neck leads the practitioner to consider diagnosis and order a CT scan. Generally, a CT scan within 72 hours of onset of a headache will scan 93-100% of all kinds of an aneurysm. There may be some case where the practitioner may order for a lumbar puncture to identify blood in the cerebrospinal space. Once the presence of blood is revealed, Angiography is performed to locate the aneurysm and plan the treatment.

There are two kinds of treatment for symptomatic aneurysm –

Clipping which is achieved by microsurgery in which a small opening is made in the skull and a clip is put across the neck of an aneurysm.

Coiling is done through endovascular surgery, where a catheter is passed through the leg artery into the brain, filling the aneurysm with specially designed coils so that it does not rupture again.

PSRI Hospital salutes the spirit of Emilia for coping with the strenuous procedures and never giving up on life. Those who fight for life, emerge the strongest. Dr. Sumit Goel, a Senior Consultant in Neuro intervention at PSRI Hospital says “Your neurosurgeon is the best person to decide the right modality of treatment for a particular case.” We encourage our patients to fight like a real warrior, and never give up on good health, taking inspiration from Emilia.