Channel 4 Gogglebox star shares incurable brain bleed diagnosis after losing vision while driving: ‘It was terrifying!’
Gogglebox star Elaine Cooper has shared the terrifying experience of losing her vision while driving due to an undetected brain bleed.
The medically retired music teacher, 56, was subsequently diagnosed with a bleed from a brain hemorrhagic stroke, which had been there for 10 weeks.
Cooper, who appeared on Channel 4 favourite Gogglebox through 2023 and 2024, endured several frightening experiences before coming to the realisation she was experiencing a serious health issue.
She explained that she had suffered bouts of forgetfulness, but assumed this had been down to tiredness and age.
“I struggled to make sense of the world around me,” she recalled. During the scary driving experience, her vision eventually returned, but everything was “blurry”.
When she managed to make it home, Cooper described having a “pounding” headache. Still, she brushed off her symptoms until she failed to remember her friends.
“I had arranged to meet some friends for lunch. As one of my pals walked into the café, I stared at her,” she confessed.
She continued: “I couldn’t think where I knew her from. Then it dawned on me, I had forgotten who she was. I had forgotten how to fill up the car a few days before that.
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“A man had to come over and help. I looked so stupid when he easily lifted off the cap. It was terrifying not remembering how to do the simplest of tasks – I truly thought I was losing my mind.”
Sadly, Cooper’s condition has no treatment or cure, which left her “shocked and heartbroken” when she finally found out her diagnosis.
“They told me part of my brain had been irreversibly damaged,” she shared. “And as there wasn’t anything they could do, this was just who I was now.
“At first, it was difficult and I didn’t feel like myself. But I knew I had to keep going and try to make the best of a bad situation.”
Cooper’s diagnosis came in April 2024 following a CT scan and an MRI. She has since had to give up driving and leave her job, adding she doesn’t often leave home.
The former Channel 4 star went on to say: “I suffer from extreme fatigue that makes me just so tired. I’ve also developed double vision and paralysis on my left side.
“It’s had such a huge impact on my life. I’ve had to accept that I must use a wheelchair for anything other than moving very short distances.
“But over time, I’ve learned coping strategies to help with my problems. And I’ve been able to attend a few gigs again, too!
“I have regular MRIS and go weekly to a rehabilitation day centre, which has been a real turning point for me.
“If I hadn’t been offered a place there, I genuinely don’t know what my wellbeing would be like today.”
Addressing the limiting factors of the condition, she reflected: “I live in a rural area, which made me isolated, and the whole aspect of that was very daunting.
“I hate relying on people for the simplest of things, but acceptance is the biggest barrier. It’s still scary, but slowly and surely, I’m getting back to some version of the old me,” she told NeedToKnow.