Coronation Streets Chris Fountain in hospital for major surgery after stroke
Chris Fountain says he couldn’t ‘read aloud’ after mini-stroke
Chris Fountain, best known for playing Tommy Duckworth in Coronation Street, shared photographs from his hospital bed as he revealed he was undergoing heart surgery.
The major operation comes after he suffered a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA), otherwise known as a mini-stroke, in August last year. The attack was caused by a blood clot lodging in his brain.
Chris explained the procedure following a pre-op last month. He 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 percent successful.”
With his mother at his bedside for support on Friday, Chris confirmed the operation was a success – although he was in pain.
He told his Instagram followers: “Still feeling a little bit woozy. My groin is rather sore.” Chris also said that he had “finally” been allowed to eat and drink following the anaesthesia.
Chris had spent five days in a London hospital following his stroke last year. He said he was unable to speak properly and “feared for his life”.
Appearing on This Morning, the actor told Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield that he “felt really stupid”.
He said of his ordeal: “I couldn’t articulate myself, it was very strange.”
At the hospital, the CT scan came back clear, but medics were concerned enough to make him stay overnight. The next morning he had an MRI scan which revealed his diagnosis.
The Dancing On Ice winner continued: “I remember it vividly. [The doctor] said the word stroke… a mini stroke… [I felt like] a rug had been pulled from underneath me.”
More to follow…
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