‘Game of Thrones’ star Emilia Clarke will receive membership of a prestigious British order for her work setting up a brain injury charity.
The English actress and her mother Jenny have been named Members of the Order of the British Empire as part of the country’s New Year’s Honours.
These awards, which are given by the monarch, recognize “outstanding” achievements and service to the community that have “delivered a sustained and real impact” that “stands out as an example to others.”
Clarke and her mother started charity SameYou four years ago to help raise awareness of brain injuries in young adults and to improve access to support.
The actress had two brain hemorrhages in the early 2010s, while she was in her 20s and acting in HBO blockbuster ‘Game of Thrones.’
She told BBC News she wanted to improve access to rehabilitation for other people with brain injuries.
“I had this incredible nurse, but I was one of 400 patients that she had. She couldn’t give me more than half an hour every three weeks. This is a day-to-day experience of living after a brain injury,” Clarke said.
Since setting up SameYou, “thousands of people” have written in with similar experiences, Clarke’s mother Jenny told PA.
“The clinicians are fantastic, the therapists are wonderful, but there just aren’t enough of them and there aren’t enough resources,” she said.
“If you’re lucky in the U.K. you get a few weeks rehab and then it just it’s like falling off a cliff.”
Clarke says she has experienced relatively minor long-term effects from her own brain injuries, despite the initial trauma they caused. But many survivors aren’t so lucky.
“In the grand scheme of things, what I went through and the fact that I’m here talking to you is nothing short of a miracle,” she said.
“That can happen, but it’s not the norm for people with brain injury, so I feel it’s my duty to be able to use my vaguely working brain to talk about it.”
Jenny added: “We realised that very few people had access to long enough rehabilitation or early enough rehabilitation.
“You are expected to get better after a certain period, and that, sadly, is not the reality for the majority of people. Even if you have a very mild brain injury, it’s a really major trauma.”
During the pandemic, SameYou charity helped fund online group neurorehabilitation project NROL to help people get care remotely.
“Now we’re trying to get the funds to roll out for it to be more accessible, because the feedback and the results have been phenomenal,” Emilia said.
The charity works with several universities in the U.K. to boost research and training in brain injury rehabilitation. It is also a member of the World Health Organisation’s World Rehabilitation Alliance.
Clarke credited her mother, who is chief executive of SameYou, for the success of the organisation.
“The most important thing is that my mum got [the MBE],” she said. “The fact that it’s us together is very sweet and lovely, but the reason why the charity really exists is because of all the work that my mum does.”
Recipients usually travel to Buckingham Palace in London or Windsor Castle in nearby Windsor to receive their awards from a member of the British Royal Family at a ceremony called an Investiture.
“Who doesn’t want to go to the palace?” Clarke added. “I’ve asked if I can take my dog, but apparently you can’t.”
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