FORMER Coronation Street star Chris Fountain has revealed he suffered a mini stroke that left him "speaking like a toddler".
The actor, 35, was terrified when he woke up one morning in August unable to speak properly.
He spent five days in The Royal London Hospital where doctors diagnosed a Transient Ischaemic Attack (TIA) after finding a blood clot in his brain.
Chris told the Mirror: “The doctors said they saw some damage to the lefthand side of my brain which is where your cognitive abilities are controlled from.
“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.
“That clot was like a ticking bomb in my head.”
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Chris's blood clot was caused by an undiagnosed hole in his heart, which will require a small operation to repair
The hole provided an opening for the clot to pass from his heart up to his bran.
The Tommy Duckworth actor has been seeing a speech therapist and has regained 90 per cent of his talking ability.
Just months before his stroke, Chris opened up about his battle with depression as he called his future acting prospects 'bleak'.
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The star was axed from Corrie in 2013 after he posted a 'rape rap' video.
Talking to Mancs On The Mic podcast's Ryan, Adam and Scott Thomas, Chris gave a candid insight into the struggles he has experienced since his public fall from grace.
Chris said: “I’ve been in some very dark, horrible places, to the point where I realised I needed to start changing the way that I was thinking – otherwise I might not have been here.”
The actor recalled his downfall, saying: “My life, my job, my image, my reputation – everything was just ripped away. Within 24 hours. I didn’t leave my house for four days.”
He said he realised he was suffering from depression because his head felt like “a swamp”.
Chris added: “I’d never been this discombobulated before. I was meant to go on This Morning, and then that got cancelled because they didn’t want me on there. After a while, I was like, ‘I think I’m going through depression here’.”
Despite landing a part in Kay Mellor’s Girlfriends and a few regional plays, Chris said his acting prospects are currently “bleak”.
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