His wife revealed that Chris Ellison, who played DCI Frank Burnside in The Bill, has lost the ability to speak since suffering a stroke 18 months ago.
The 75-year-old actor was diagnosed with aphasia – the degenerative brain disorder that movie legend Bruce Willis has this week – after suffering a stroke in 2020.
Aphasia is a potentially devastating condition that affects one’s ability to understand language.
TV star wife Anita, 69, told The Sun on Sunday: ‘It’s awful, we were so lonely. Chris is trapped in his body. He can understand everything that is going on around him but cannot speak, read or write.
He hasn’t made any sense in 18 months. Sometimes I feel like I’ve lost my very attractive, very funny, and caring husband.
His wife, Anita, has revealed that Chris Ellison, who played DCI Frank Burnside in The Bill, has lost the ability to speak since suffering a stroke 18 months ago. (The couple was photographed in 2018)
Chris played the volatile Burnside for 15 years on The Bill (above) and proved so popular that he had a spin-off in 2000
“It’s frustrating for both of us but when he looks me in the eye, I see he’s still there. I cried buckets.
Chris played the volatile Burnside for 15 years on The Bill and proved so popular that he landed a spin-off in 2000.
Titled Burnside, he saw him working on the National Crime Squad. It ran for only one season, and aired six episodes.
He later appeared in EastEnders, an audio play for Doctor Who, as a contestant on Pointless Celebrities and found himself on Celebrity Big Brother in 2015 alongside Janice Dickinson, Jenna Jameson and Danielle Baldwin.
Chris had a stroke at his Brighton home and Anita found her on the bedroom floor.
The aphasia was only known to a few friends and family, but he was inspired to share it with the wider world after the 67-year-old’s diagnosis.
The family of Willis, who has starred in dozens of action movies, said he is now retiring from acting after being diagnosed with the disease that hampered his “cognitive abilities”.
The actor (above in The Bill), 75, was diagnosed with aphasia – the degenerative brain disorder that movie legend Bruce Willis has this week – after suffering a stroke in 2020.
He rose to fame on the 1980s comedy-drama television series Moonlighting and appeared in nearly 100 films during his four-decade career, earning him praise for his roles in Pulp Fiction and The Sixth Sense, winning a Golden Globe and two Emmys.
But Willis is perhaps best known for playing a ruthless New York cop who chases bad guys in the five Die Hard films, released from 1988 to 2013.
“This is a challenging time for our family and we deeply appreciate your continued love, sympathy and support,” his family said in a statement.
Willis and actress Demi Moore were one of the most popular Hollywood couples in the ’90s until their divorce in 2000, but they remained close after the split.
He is currently married to model and actress Emma Heming and is the father of a total of five children from both women.
“We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and we wanted to bring in his fans because we know how much he means to you, as you are to him,” the statement signed by the actor’s family and posted on the statement read. Instagram of Demi Moore and their daughter Rumer.
Aphasia is a disorder often caused by stroke that can also result from head trauma or, in rare cases, from neurological disease, said Brenda Rapp, a professor of cognitive sciences at Johns Hopkins University.
Symptoms vary widely and can affect speech, comprehension and ability to read, Raab said in a phone interview. In some cases, aphasia can be treated with speech therapy.
Aphasia: a brain condition that can make a person unable to communicate
Aphasia can present in a variety of ways, most often as a result of a head injury, stroke, tumor or other deterioration in the brain.
It can also be devastating, with experts saying it causes depression in more than a third of cases, can lead to personality changes and can alienate friends and family from the affected person.
The cause of this condition, which is often some type of traumatic brain injury or stroke, can lead to massive personality shifts.
“[Aphasia is] Difficulty with language caused by brain injury. The most common source is a stroke…but it can come from any other type of damage.”
The condition can make it so difficult for an actor — such as Bruce Willis (above, in 2019) or Chris Ellison — to continue in his career that the process of speaking out can become a challenge.
Some infections that affect the language centers of the brain can also cause aphasia, along with cognitive decline and dementia-related decline.
This condition can make it so difficult for an actor — like Bruce Willis or Chris Ellison — to continue in his career that just the act of speaking out can become a challenge.
There are four common types of aphasia that make up the vast majority of cases: fluent – often called Wernicke; unflavored – known as broca; anomaly. and primary progressive aphasia.
Raab explained that there are different forms of the condition because each represents a different type of breakdown in the communication process.
Whether it’s the ability to translate thoughts into appropriate words, the ability to physically pronounce words, or the ability to interpret and understand speech from others, every part of communication is a complex process, and even minor brain damage can cause a problem.
While the condition causes communication failure, Rapp notes that the same person remains the same.
Their thoughts, beliefs, and feelings remain for loved ones, even if it can be frustrating and frustrating for both the aphasia patient and those around them to deal with the condition.
According to the Stroke Association, a UK-based group, those with Wernicke’s aphasia have the ability to put long sentences of words together, but often say things in a meaningless way, or even use made-up words.
They will also have impaired ability to read and write, and may have difficulty understanding clear verbal communication towards them.
