Mark Ruffalo, who plays the bulky and all too powerful character of Hulk in the MCU, had been prey to an extremely serious health condition in the early years of his career. The American actor shed light upon the same, as he recalled just how difficult those times had been for him and his family.
The actor opened up about his brain tumour that he had been battling with and how it had been quite traumatising to go through such a condition, during it and even after recovery.
Mark Ruffalo opened up about his fight with brain tumour
Back in 2001, Mark Ruffalo had been diagnosed with acoustic neuroma, a kind of brain tumour that tends to develop on the auditory and/or hearing nerves. The Shutter Island actor, 34 at the time, had to go for surgery just four weeks after he was diagnosed, because the tumour had started to spread to his facial nerves as well.
The Begin Again star was afraid of undergoing surgery after being warned that there was an 80% chance that he would be bereft of hearing in his left ear, and a 20% chance of severe damage to his facial nerve.
As the condition started to become more grave, Ruffalo admitted that he had been scared for his life and was also petrified for the wellbeing of his family. “I was praying and sort of bargaining with God,” he said. “I was like hey man, please um you know don’t take my face and don’t take my life because without my face I can’t really support my family and without my life definitely can’t support my family.”
Ruffalo had not only been worried about his own health, but was also scared for the future of his loved ones lest something bad happened to him.
The Hulk actor had a very tough time even during recovery
Even though the surgery had gone well enough that the doctors had been able to remove the tumour without any damage reaching Ruffalo’s nerves, he still had to face a lot of hindrances with regard to his recovery.
A few days after the surgery, Ruffalo’s face had partially paralyzed, thereby rendering him completely helpless and vulnerable.
“The first day [after surgery], you know, I was just out of it and then the second day they came in they’re checking my face, and my face began to go paralyzed,” he stated. He also mentioned how by the third and fourth day post-surgery, he could neither close his eyes, nor move the left side of his face. “That was pretty alarming,” he admitted.
For a tediously long period of almost ten months, the Zodiac star had to try out a bunch of different therapies for the recovery of his paralysis. Not to mention, he also had to recover from the emotional toll that those times in his life had taken on him.
However, the actor successfully fought all of his health battles with valour, managed to get back on track with his life, and is now doing much better than before.
Source: Express
