Mark Ruffalo, who plays the bulky and overpowered character of the Hulk in the MCU, had been plagued by an extremely serious medical condition in the early years of his career. The American actor shed light on the same, recalling how difficult those times had been for him and his family.
The actor opened up about his brain tumor that he was battling and how it was quite traumatic to go through such a condition, during and even after his recovery.
Mark Ruffalo opened up about his battle with a brain tumor
In 2001, Mark Ruffalo was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor that tends to grow on auditory and/or auditory nerves. The shutter island The actor, 34 at the time, had to have surgery just four weeks after being diagnosed as the tumor had also started to spread to his facial nerves.
The Restart star was scared of undergoing surgery after being warned there was an 80 per cent chance of hearing loss in his left ear and a 20 per cent chance of severe damage to his facial nerve.
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As the condition started to get more serious, Ruffalo admitted that he had been scared for his life and was also petrified for the well-being of his family. “I was praying and sort of negotiating with God,” he said. “I was like hey man, please uh you know don’t take my face and take my life because without my face I can’t really support my family and without my life I can’t certainly can’t support my family.”
Ruffalo had not only been worried about his own health, but also feared for the future of his loved ones lest something bad happen to him.
The Hulk actor had a very difficult time even during his recovery
Even though the surgery had gone well enough that doctors were able to remove the tumor without any damage to Ruffalo’s nerves, he still faced many hurdles when it came to his recovery.
A few days after the operation, Ruffalo’s face was partially paralyzed, rendering him completely helpless and vulnerable.
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“First day [after surgery]you know, I was just walked out of there and then the second day they came in, they checked my face, and my face started going paralyzed,” he stated. He also mentioned that on the third and fourth day after the operation, he could neither close his eyes nor move the left side of his face. “It was quite alarming” he admitted.
During a tedious period of nearly ten months, the Zodiac star had to try a bunch of different therapies for recovery from his paralysis. Not to mention that 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 his health battles bravely, managed to get his life back on track and is now doing much better than before.
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Source: Express
