Hollywood star and fitness icon Arnold Schwarzenegger battled with his greatest health struggle for years. He underwent three serious heart surgeries, two of them consecutively. While the cause behind Arnold?s heart condition was unavoidable, the awareness of the issue was not. The former athlete?s condition was kept a secret by his closest family member for long.?
Arnold?s mother, Aurelia was hiding the life-threatening secret about their family condition which was later passed on to the actor. Appearing in an interview once, Arnie revealed how he found out about their underlying family condition for the first time in his life.?
Arnold Schwarzenegger was clueless about his grave health concern
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The 76-year-old actor once spoke in an interview explaining the chain of events that drew him closer to the news of his heart condition. After his mother complained of a slight heart problem, Arnie took her to UCLA. During the checkup, Aurelia disclosed her family’s past health complication, bicuspid aortic valve.?
Arnie was shocked and clueless. ?which was the first time I kind of heard that,? he said. Additionally, his mother revealed that Arnie?s grandmother suffered from the same condition and passed away aged 67. Arnold recalled while talking to In Depth With Graham Bensinger in 2016, ?So they said, well you know it’s obviously something that is being passed down.??
The doctors urged him to do routine heart checkups from then on. Therefore, after Arnold finished filming True Lies in 1994, he was cautioned by the doctors that his heart performance was declining, calling for a valve replacement soon. Hence, after Arnold finished working on Batman & Robin in 1997, he got both his valves replaced. Nevertheless, it was not the end of his battle.?
Arnold Schwarzenegger was yet to be cured
The initial protocol for valve replacement did not work on Arnold. His blood pressure was too heavy for the pulmonary valve replaced in place of the aortic one. Thus, Arnie was informed about the need for a subsequent surgery by the doctors, at 3 a.m. in the morning. Naturally terrified, Arnie acknowledged his ?disastrous situation? and complied with the doctors on what had to be done.?
The actor also noted that the second surgery had a rather serious connotation in comparison to the former one. Fortunately, the final surgery was a success, and Arnie never faced any relative issues even years later.?
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Despite being a man of such stature, the Austrian Oak was not afraid of the worst consequences. He stood firm on his decision to get his valves replaced and ended the age-old family secret that had taken her grandmother’s and apparently, mother?s life.?
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