Neuro Note 1-Traumatic Brain Injury

I read an article in the New Yorker by Emilia Clarke titled A Battle for my Life about her journey of going through two aneurysms while in the middle of filming a widely known television show, “Game of Thrones.”

I chose to research more about the topic of Traumatic Brain Injury and to further my understanding of outcomes, I decided to read an article about Clarke’s personal story.  From a young age Clarke decided that she wanted to be an actress.  She had grown up always suffering from symptoms like low blood pressure, low heart rate, dizziness, and passing out but she thought it was just due to stress and being overactive.  In her early twenties she received the role of Daenerys in the show “Game of Thrones.”  After filming season 2 she suffered from an aneurysm and was taken to the hospital.  She had minimally invasive brain surgery where the doctors sealed off the aneurysm.  One night after that surgery she suffered from aphasia which passed after a week.  Her doctors discovered she had another smaller aneurysm but she went back to her normal life.  However, after season 3 of “Game of Thrones” she went in for a simple operation, but ended up having to have her skull cut open for another brain surgery.  She remained in the hospital a month after fearing that she was going to die, but she survived.

I chose to read this article because I watched “Game of Thrones” right before the last season came out.  I knew that Emilia Clarke had had two aneurysms but I would never have guessed while watching the show.  I wanted to learn more about Traumatic Brain Injuries by listening to her story.   

In the article she talks about how she woke up one night after her first surgery and could understand the question her nurse was asking her but could not articulate an answer through speech production. She had aphasia but more specifically as we learned in our class, I think she was suffering from expressive/Broca’s aphasia in which she could not produce language.  This passed after a week.  I also learned that her first surgery was minimally invasive and they used endovascular coiling.  I did not realize before that for this procedure, they go into a femoral artery in the groin, up around the heart and finally to the brain.  I know someone who has had minimally invasive brain surgery but they went up through his nose instead.  This was a short article but it clearly reflected on Clarke’s experience related to TBI, aneurysms, and aphasia.  I would recommend this article to my classmates.  It was an interesting personal history about a famous actress that I was not expecting.  I enjoyed reading the article and there is even a podcast attached to it that I am about to go listen to!

Clarke, E. (2019, March 21). Personal history: A battle for my life. The New Yorker. 

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/emilia-clarke-a-battle-for-my-life-brain-aneurysm-surgery-game-of-thrones?source=EDT_NYR_EDIT_NEWSLETTER_0_imagenewsletter_Daily_ZZ&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_source=nl&utm_brand=tny&utm_mailing=TNY_Daily_123119_TopTen&utm_medium=email&bxid=5c323320639ec86e604a6ea6&cndid=48059106&esrc=&mbid=&utm_term=TNY_Daily