Game of Throne star Emilia Clarke sets up brain injuries charity

Authored by dailymail.co.uk and submitted by Prof_Cecily

Emilia Clarke, pictured on Game of Thrones, has put £30,000 into brain injury charity The Anima Foundation

She is better known as the platinum blonde ‘Mother of Dragons’ in the hit TV fantasy Game Of Thrones.

But now British star Emilia Clarke has created a real-life role for herself by setting up a pioneering brain injuries charity.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that the star has ploughed nearly £30,000 of her own money into The Anima Foundation, which will launch later this year with the help of acclaimed neurosurgeon and author Henry Marsh.

Miss Clarke has also agreed to become an ambassador for the Royal College of Nursing.

According to documents filed at Companies House, the charity aims to educate the public ‘in all subjects relating to brain injuries and promoting and protecting the health of individuals who have experienced, or are at risk of experiencing, a brain injury’.

Miss Clarke has also created a ‘sister’ charity in the US.

Reports surfaced in 2013 that the 31-year-old actress had suffered a brain aneurysm following her two-month stint as Holly Golightly in the play Breakfast At Tiffany’s on Broadway. One report said she was treated at the New York- Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York.

Miss Clarke has never confirmed the reports.

However, last May she posted a picture of herself on Instagram in what appeared to be a hospital waiting room praising the work of nurses. ‘No one gets through life unscathed, a sad fact we all know,’ she wrote.

Miss Clarke reportedly earns £350,000 per episode of Game Of Thrones, in which she plays Daenerys Targaryen.

So far she has given £27,132 to the charity, according to the newly published trustees’ report.

Senior consultant neurosurgeon Mr Marsh, left, who wrote a bestselling memoir, Do No Harm, is listed as a trustee alongside Miss Clarke’s mother, Jennifer, 67, and Hereward Harrison, 74, former policy director at Childline.

The papers show that the trustees have already met people including neuroscientists, politicians and philanthropists to discuss the charity. They also ‘aim to work closely with NHS Trusts’.

Clarke, pictured, is also to become an ambassador for the Royal College of Nursing

It added that donations raised are to fund specialist nurses who provide aftercare support for brain injury patients.

Kevin O’Neill, consultant neurosurgeon at Charing Cross Hospital, said Miss Clarke’s charity was a ‘brilliant initiative’.

‘The NHS is very good at dealing with acute care but where we fall down is intensive rehabilitation.

‘We don’t have enough specialised neurological rehabilitation centres. Once you’ve had a brain injury and lost a lot of neural function it’s like being a child again. I’ve seen people go from high- performing executives to people who can’t remember anything.’

A spokesman for the actress last night declined to comment.

Pikachuzita on April 15th, 2018 at 17:08 UTC »

Emilia did have a brain aneurysm a few years ago. That´s probably what drove to this cause. Must have been scary for her.

alexj300 on April 15th, 2018 at 15:46 UTC »

She should set up a charity for people with burns.

Jhaney1214 on April 15th, 2018 at 15:22 UTC »

I saw Emilia Clarke and "brain injuries" at first glance and my heart skipped a beat

yikes