Former Coronation Street star Chris Fountain has shared an image and videos of himself in a hospital bed months after suffering a stroke. The actor, who played Tommy Duckworth in the ITV soap, suffered a mini-stroke in August last year and spent five days in a London hospital after waking up at home unable to speak properly.
Opening up about his terrifying health scare in October 2022, Chris recalled how he was left "speaking like a toddler" before doctors discovered he had suffered a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) – also known as a mini-stroke – after a blood clot lodged in his brain.
After several days of tests at a specialist stroke unit at the Royal London Hospital, medics determined the actor had a hole in his heart which had caused the blood clot to travel to his brain, triggering the stroke. Chris, 35, has since dedicated himself to raising awareness of the condition
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Taking to Instagram on Friday (May 12), Chris, who also starred in Hollyoaks as Justin Burton, shared how he was in hospital for a planned operation. "So the day's arrived. Just walking to hospital. Got the mother here for moral support. Here we go," he aid to the camera as he walked to the hospital.
After undergoing a pre-op last month, Chris explained the operation he was due to have and said: "What they do is, go in through my groin, go up to my heart and put this thing through where the hole is and it leaves a metal umbrella and they pull it through, it leaves another little metal umbrella at the other side.
"Then my heart grows around it and hopefully, that should mean no more strokes and I'll have a little bionic heart. It's a little bit nerve-wracking as it's a heart procedure but apparently, it's 99.9% successful I'll have to take it easy for a week or so after it's done. So yeah, we do a marathon and then we go to do a heart operation, as you do."
Chris then shared an image perched on a hospital bed ready for surgery in his gown and hospital socks, writing: "Vibes," alongside it before adding a video teasing his mum for being on her phone. He then shared a video from his hospital bed as he prepared to go down and once he returned he posted another clip, telling his fans he was back.
Last month the former soap star was flooded with praise when he ompleted the London Marathon to raise money for the Stroke Association. Sharing an emotional update as he crossed the finish line, he cheered: "I DID IT!!!!!!!"
He went on to share as he posed for a selfie with his medal: "From having a stroke in August to running a sub 4 hour marathon. I am beyond proud of myself. THANKYOU to everyone who cheered, donated, ran with me and everything else in between. I’m so, so happy. Will never forget this feeling."
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