Kate Walsh was diagnosed with a brain tumour two years ago.
Kate Walsh
The 'Grey's Anatomy' star has revealed she was given a huge "wake-up call" in 2015 when doctors discovered she had a benign meningioma the size of a lemon after she began to suffer with extreme tiredness but ignored it and put it down to her busy schedule.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan magazine, she said: "I had been working insane hours, maybe 80 hours a week, and also working out really hard, so I wasn't surprised. I figured, OK , I'll change up my workout routine, I'll go back to mellow stuff like hiking."
But the 49-year-old actress became even more alarmed when she realised she was swerving to one side while driving and suffered with brain fog and speech issues.
She explained: "It felt like aphasia, but it wasn't just not being able to find words; I would lose my train of thought, I wasn't able to finish sentences, and that was when I got really alarmed. The words 'brain tumour' were never in my zeitgeist.
"I went in for the MRI, and you know it's serious when they don't even wait, they're like 'hey, the radiologist wants to see you.' And she starts to say, 'Well, it looks like you have a very sizable brain tumour' -- and I just left my body.
"My assistant had driven me there, and I had to go get her so that she could take notes, because I was gone. It was never anything I would have imagined."
Kate went under the knife three days later to have the mass removed and can't praise the doctors enough for the support they gave her while she was going through it all.
She said: "I love to work hard and do 800 things at once, and this was a really amazing lesson in just submitting to the process of healing.
"I did exactly what the doctors told me to do, and asked tons of questions when I had them, and got lots of support, and just took my time."
And the brunette beauty has now learnt to listen to her body and seek help when something doesn't feel right because, usually, instincts are right.
She added: "We're all so socialised to try to self-diagnose, like 'I'll change my workout, I'll change my diet.' I'm very proactive and willful and independent, and in the past, even though I played a doctor on TV for years, I was not one to go see doctors very often, other than for my annual OB-GYN appointment.
"So for me, it was a really big wake-up call to do annual check-ups."
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