Matthew Wilson
For the past 13 years, horror icon Tim Curry has been confined to a wheelchair after suffering a near-fatal stroke. But he’s lucky to be alive. In fact, the actor has one person to credit with him being here today.
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In his new memoir, Vagabond, via New York Post, Curry reflected on his 2012 stroke. At the time, he was having a massage. Though he didn’t believe he needed a doctor, his massage therapist realized the signs and called 911. Curry credited him with saving his life.
- “I probably owe my life to the fact that he ignored me, went with his instinct and called an ambulance,” Curry wrote.
- Paramedics rushed him to the hospital where surgeons conducted emergency surgery.
- “It turned out that my brain was inflamed enough, or filled with enough blood that bone from my skull had to be removed and implanted into my abdomen to keep my brain, and me, alive,” he wrote. “Thankfully, the operation was successful (which was by no means guaranteed).”
- Curry continued, “When I emerged from the hospital, I had to wear a sort of protective helmet as my brain was literally exposed to the elements. It really wasn’t my best look but at least there wasn’t an abundance of people looking at or judging me.”
Tim Curry Talks Stroke
Curry later learned that he had suffered two blood clots and a serious stroke.
- “I had been very scared when I did not know what was happening to me, because I had no sense of whether tremendous pain was forthcoming,” Curry wrote. “But if death comes for me peacefully and I fade gently from light into dark oblivion, why would I be afraid of it? Sometimes, I rather think it would be a comfort.”
- “I can say that now, because it’s been over a dozen years, which is a sufficient amount of time to be able to reflect back calmly, and perhaps with a healthy dose of disassociation,” he wrote. “At the time, if I’m being honest, I was just astonished to be lying there.”
Despite surviving the stroke, he was left partially paralyzed as a result. The time afterwards was a long recovery process.
- “After regaining consciousness, I could comprehend words but they did not register or settle without effort. Life was exceedingly dull, monotonous, and uncertain for a long while, Curry wrote. “I was aware of where I was. But it took me a while to fully accept what had happened, as I imagine is the case with many people getting over a stroke and brain surgery.”
Curry survived his stroke and has been focused on recovery for the past decade. He’s just now opening up about the experience.
