Chris Fountain has spoke of his terror and panic, after suffering a 'mini stroke' at the age of 35, while he was on the phone to his mum.
In his first TV interview since sharing what happened to him on social media, former Hollyoaks and Coronation Street actor Chris told This Morning hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby that he realised something was wrong when he was on the phone to his mum when, all of a sudden, he was unable to get his words out.
Chris explained to the presenters that he suffered the stroke on August 11 and was then in hospital for four days. Going back to exactly what happened on the day in question, Chris explained that it was a call from his mum that woke him up, saying: "It was one of those, I picked up the phone and we were talking for a while and I was like coming round while I was on the phone.
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"I was aware that I was trying to say something and I couldn't remember what I was trying to say, my words weren't really coming out and I was just like 'I'll call you back.'" Chris initially put his lack of coherence down to being tired but then realised "something wasn't quite right." He elaborated: "I was kinda like trying to identify things in the house. There was towel over the top of the door and the weirdest thing was that my inside voice, inside my head was perfect. In my head I was going 'towel' but then I couldn't say it; my brain and my mouth weren't on the same page."
Starting to panic and on the advice of his mum, Chris phoned 111 and just about managed to explain what was wrong, as well as giving his address. Chris said it then "became very difficult to speak," when he got to hospital, admitting he was "in panic and scared."
Former Dancing on Ice finalist Chris was kept in for a CT scan, which came back clear, but then, after being kept in overnight, he was taken for a MRI scan and then told he'd suffered a stroke. How he felt being told that, Chris explained: "As soon as he said stroke, it was like he was looking at me, telling me all this other information, but as soon as he said stroke my brain was like 'why has this happened? Is this going to happen again?'
Chris told Phillip and Holly it felt like the rug had been pulled from under him, adding: "I keep myself quite fit, I've lost a load of weight and I'm training all the time." Chris was moved to the Royal London stroke ward where it was found he had a heart issue and a clot had got through the hole in his heart to the left hand side of his brain.
He ended: "As traumatising as it has been, it could have been so much worse for me."
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