Former Coronation Street star Chris Fountain stepped out with fellow former members of the Weatherfield 'Brat Pack' after revealing he had suffered a devastating mini stroke at the age of 35. Chris, who has said he was left “speaking like a toddler” and spent five days in a London hospital after waking up at home unable to speak properly in August, attended the 2022 JustGiving Awards in London with his soap pals.
Chris, who played Tommy Duckworth the grandson of soap icons Jack and Vera in the ITV soap from 2011 to 2013, smiled for the camera as he posed alongside Ryan Thomas, 38, who played Jason Grimshaw from 2001 to 2016, and West End star Richard Fleeshman, 33, who played Craig Harris from 2002 to 2006.
"Special night. Special people," he said as he shared a photo on his Instagram. They were joined by Ryan's brothers, twins Adam and Scott, 34, as they supported Ryan at the awards after he raised more than £162,000 for the mental health and suicide prevention charity, CALM, which helped fund over 20,000 helpline calls and inspired many people to come forward and ask for help.
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Ryan walked 10 marathons in 10 days from London to Manchester. Sharing the same group picture on his Instagram Richard said: "Proud to have been in attendance at the Just giving awards to support my amazing pal @ryanthomas84.
"He was nominated for his incredible fund raising efforts last year. There were so many inspiring people in that room who’ve raised insane amounts of money often in the face of huge personal adversity, a truly humbling thing to witness. Congratulations to all involved!"
Chris has been bravely speaking out after doctors discovered he had suffered a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) – known as a mini stroke – after a blood clot lodged in his brain. "I woke up one morning and knew something wasn’t right," reports the Mirror. "My mum called me and I just couldn’t get my words out. I started walking round my house looking at things and I could think what the word was, like television or fridge, but I couldn’t say it.
"I called 111 on my mum’s advice and they sent an ambulance for me, it was so scary. I felt stupid because I knew exactly what I wanted to say to the doctors, but I couldn’t get the words out, I was speaking like a toddler, I was really embarrassed."
After several days of undergoing 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.
Speaking candidly about the incident, Chris, who also played Damian Jones in Emmerdale and Juston Burton in Hollyoaks, said: "What’s scary is if I hadn’t have called 111 when I did and got to hospital so quickly I don’t know if that clot could have travelled to the wrong place in my brain, I could have died."
Chris has regained 90 per cent of his speech but says he still struggles to read aloud and finds himself stumbling over his words at times. He is currently working with a speech therapist in an effort to retrain his brain and is set to undergo surgery. The small op is to patch up the hole and hopefully prevent any more clots traveling to his brain.
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