At only 43 years old, actress Sharon Stone had a devastating stroke that led to an extensive amount of damage.
Stone, now 59, has shared the extent of her afflictions, along with the depth of her recovery.
Famous for her roles in Casino, The Mighty, and The Muse, the critically acclaimed actress endured a nine-day brain hemorrhage that left her close to death's doorstep.
In 2015, Stone told Harper's Bazaar that she didn't realize she was suffering from a stroke, and only checked into a hospital after feeling under the weather for several days.
"When I came to, the doctor was leaning over me," Stone said. "I said, 'Am I dying?' And he said, 'You're bleeding into your brain.' I said, 'I should call my mom,' and he said, 'You're right. You could lose the ability to speak soon.'"
In a recent interview with Radio Times, Stone discussed the aftermath of her ordeal. She said she lost nearly all function on the left side of her body, and regaining basic motor skills was not an easy feat.
Stone said she truly resonated with the documentary My Beautiful Broken Brain, as she could relate to the story with her own traumatizing experience.
"In 2001, I had a stroke and a nine-day brain hemorrhage that changed my life forever. I had a 5% chance of surviving," the mother-of-three said. "When I came home after the stroke, I could barely walk. My hip was unstable. I couldn't see out of my left eye and I couldn't hear out of my left ear."
"I couldn't write my name for almost three years," she continued. "I couldn't get my arm to listen to my mind, so I had to learn to read and write again. I had to learn to speak again. It took years for the feeling to come back to my left leg, but it finally came back."
Stone said returning to television helped her in the recovery process, despite it being daunting at first.
"I started by doing a guest role on Law & Order: SVU [in 2010], which was really humbling and strange. I'd lost my photographic memory, so I didn't know how to do my lines, but now I'm really together," Stone said.
Now recovered, the Emmy Award-winning actress has most recently appeared on HBO's Mosaic. The murder mystery was released in two forms: as an iOS/Android mobile app and as a television drama series.
[H/T: Daily Mail, Metro, RTE]