HOLLYOAKS and Coronation Street star Chris Fountain has revealed he embarked on a health kick and lost weight before suffering a terrifying stroke.
The actor was left 'speaking like a toddler' after a blood clot travelled to his brain in August.
Best known for playing Justin Burton in Hollyoaks and Tommy Duckworth in Coronation Street, Chris spoke about suffering a mini stroke in his sleep.
He told This Morning’s Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield that he thought he was healthy before his shocking diagnosis after an emergency brain scan.
Chris looked well and he spoke clearly on the show today, saying: “I kept myself quite good last year. I went on a mass health kick and lost loads of weight.
"No one could give me a definitive answer as to why, they wanted to test for everything.
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"They transferred me to London, and then they let me out and I had a different perspective on everything.
"I found out that I have a hole in my heart. Apparently this is quite common but a blood clot got through the hole and moved to the left hand-side of my brain.
"As traumatic as it has been it could have been a lot worse. I could have lost the use of my arm or my face could have dropped."
Chris said he was asleep on August 12 when his mum woke him with a phone call and he quickly realised something was wrong.
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He added: “I woke up in the morning to a phone call from my mum.
“We were talking for a while and I was looking around on the phone but my words weren’t really coming out, so I said 'I’d call you back.'
“I got up and couldn’t put my finger on it but something wasn’t right.
“I was trying to identify things around the house like a towel on the door. My inside voice was fine but I couldn’t say the word … I picked up a book and as I say the words in my head were fine, but I couldn’t read it (aloud).
“Eventually I got to the hospital.
"I was embarrassed, panicked and scared. I felt really stupid that I couldn’t articulate what I wanted to say.
Chris continued: “They said they would keep me in hospital and I had the MRI scan and the doctor came back and I remember it vividly. He said the word ‘Stroke’ and as soon as he said that my brain was swamped, was this going to happen again? Like someone had pulled the rug from beneath me."
He spent five days in The Royal London Hospital where doctors diagnosed a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) after finding the blood clot in his brain.
Just months before his stroke, Chris opened up about his battle with depression as he called his future acting prospects 'bleak'.
The star was axed from Corrie in 2013 after he posted a 'rape rap' video.
Talking to Mancs On The Mic podcast's Ryan, Adam and Scott Thomas, Chris gave a candid insight into the struggles he has experienced since his public fall from grace.
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Chris said: “I’ve been in some very dark, horrible places, to the point where I realised I needed to start changing the way that I was thinking – otherwise I might not have been here.”
The actor recalled his downfall, saying: “My life, my job, my image, my reputation – everything was just ripped away. Within 24 hours. I didn’t leave my house for four days.”
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