Sorbo reveals battle with strokes

10/3/2011

Robert Kirchgassner

Actor Kevin Sorbo, who became famous playing the title role in the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, had revealed that he suffered a series of strokes while playing the son of Zeus.
His health problems began in 1997 while he was filming the series. He went to many doctors while on a publicity tour complaining of aches and tingling in his left arm and hand.
“(The doctors) didn’t believe it was anything serious,” Sorbo said. This is why he ignored the pain until, one day during a workout, Sorbo felt searing pain shoot down his left shoulder. After a visit to a chiropractor, he experienced blurry vision and dizziness. He went to a hospital the next day when he could barely walk and his speech was slurred.
It was there that doctors discovered an aneurysm in an artery near his shoulder. The aneurysm was disrupting the blood flow to his lower arm.
Following initial treatment, Sorbo learned that he had experienced three strokes, which he kept secret from most people.
"I felt like I had been transformed overnight from a youthful, carefree jock into someone who needed to grasp the backs of chairs and counters for an arduous five-year trip to the bathroom," he said of his struggle with recovery. "I went through two years of hell before I began to feel like myself again. I was depressed and frustrated and had a bad attitude.”
Sorbo further discusses his health crisis in his new book True Strength: My Journey from Hercules to Mere Mortal and How Nearly Dying Saved My Life, which is set for release in November.

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