Emilia Clarke and her mother made MBEs

They’ve been honoured for their work setting up the brain injury charity SameYou.

The actress said she still briefly feels as though she is having another brain haemorrhage every time she gets a headache, and described how not being able to speak after surgery made her think “let this end now”.

Her first brain haemorrhage, a bleed on the brain, happened while working out in a north London gym in 2011.

Clarke said she felt “fragile, sensitive and scared” after her brain injury and was shocked to find out how understaffed rehabilitation services are – with rehab becoming a key focus for the charity.

Her mother, Jenny Clarke, said that in the UK “you’re lucky if you get a few weeks of rehab, and then it’s just like falling off a cliff”, as she urged people to donate to the charity to help fund vital online rehab services.

Another focus for the charity for 2024 is mental health support, with Clarke saying that her second brain haemorrhage in 2013 “just took the wind right out of me from a mental health point of view”.

Clarke, who has set up a production company with exciting projects in the pipeline for 2024, said she did not want to go public about her brain injury, and largely kept it a secret from her Game Of Thrones colleagues.

But since she launched the charity and shared her story “thousands” of other people who have had traumatic brain injuries have approached her and she now feels “less alone”.

She said that the MBE was “wonderful awareness-building for the cause”, while Mrs Clarke said she believed she was being “pranked” when she first heard about it.

SameYou has launched a new fundraising appeal to help provide neurorehabilitation to patients online.

Mrs Clarke said that the programme, currently operating out of London and Lancashire, would be rolled out across the UK as she urged people to donate £10 to fund one session for one patient.

Almost 1,000 people have benefited from the online support so far.

Published: 30/12/2023 by Radio NewsHub