Jordana Brewster is looking back at having brain surgery.
If you didn’t know, the 46-year-old Fast & Furious actress was first diagnosed with a seizure-causing cavernous malformation in her brain back when she was 28. She had been on medication that managed her condition and prevented episodes for over a decade.
In 2020, after two breakthrough seizures, Jordana opted for craniotomy, which she was awake for.
“They shaved this part,” Jordana recalled on the June 30 episode of She MD. “They opened my skull and I was on my side and there was someone in front of me showing me cards and sort of testing my language and two brilliant neurosurgeons behind me.”
Jordana went on to share that being awake for the brain surgery helped ensure that the doctors were proceeding safely.
“If I couldn’t come up with a word association or if I couldn’t answer a question, they knew, ‘Okay, we’ve hit a part of the brain we shouldn’t hit and let’s stay away from there,’” she explained.
She did, however, admit that she during the surgery she felt aphasia, which is a neurological disorder that impairs a person’s ability to speak, write, and understand both spoken and written language (per the NIDCD).
“You think it, you know the answer, but you’re not able to say it, which is a really weird feeling,” the Lethal Weapon actress explained. “And it also made me question, ‘Wait, what about patients that are in a coma or what about patients that can’t articulate what they want to say but it’s there, which is really frustrating?’”
Ever since undergoing the surgery, Jordana has been seizure-free for six years.
“I kind of overhauled my life in 2020 and I think that helped also to give me the bravery to do something about the CVM,” Jordana concluded. “I got a divorce. I found the love of my life. It was like Eat Pray Love on steroids.”
If you didn’t see, Vin Diesel recently teased that a world famous athlete may be appearing in the final Fast & Furious movie.
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