Game of Throne star Emilia Clarke’s mum spoke on an Oxford university podcast about brain injury, following her daughter’s candid account of surviving two brain haemorrhages.

Emilia Clarke shared her story to try and reduce the stigma around brain injury in young adults, which led to thousands of survivors sharing their stories.

The dragon queen and her mum, Jenny Clarke, also started a charity, SameYou, which campaigns to ‘normalise’ the conditions of brain injury, and revolutionise how rehabilitation is being delivered.

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Speaking on the University of Oxford’s Futuremakers podcast, which investigates brain injury and rehabilitation, Jenny said the charity has given survivors a platform to call for better care.

Since the charity launched four years ago, it has worked with leading neuro-clinicians and universities around the world to deliver innovations in recovery and has funded new ways of working with patients. The charity says brain injury is one of the biggest – yet most neglected – global health challenges we face.

Almost one in three people will experience an acquired brain injury - a stroke, brain haemorrhage, tumour or traumatic injury - during their lifetime.

Two weeks ago, Jenny addressed the World Health Organisation’s Global Rehabilitation meeting in Geneva, speaking about the power of advocacy and the need for survivors’ voices to be heard so policymakers realise that only 50 per cent of people are getting the rehabilitation support that’s essential to allow them to ensure they get the quality care they need.

SameYou has been granted membership to the newly-formed World Rehabilitation Alliance after the organisation’s landmark ruling to commit to boosting worldwide access to rehabilitation, and the charity has outlined how advocacy is central to communities across the world.

Emilia suffered her first brain haemorrhage at the age of 23, when she had just started to film Game of Thrones. Jenny, who is co-founder and CEO, said they knew straight away it was going to be a “fight for her life”.

Then two years later, Emilia was on Broadway in New York, when she had to have open head surgery.

Jenny said: “It was about 12 hours before we knew whether she was going to live or not. “But, unlike many stories, Emilia came out of this okay. She was fine, despite all the pronouncements and the scares, she has come through both of these experiences.

“There is no cognitive deficit, no physical deficits, but she has come through as a very different human. “She was 25 when the second experience happened and it made us realise the trauma, that particularly young people go through.

“And it made us realise the fragility of our human body and we looked into what possibly we could try and do to use her voice and her global reach to take some action.”

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1