Gogglebox star Shaun Malone has shared striking images of painful-looking scars on his head following brain surgery. The 31-year-old, who shot to fame alongside his family when they debuted on Channel 4's beloved programme in 2014, has been candid about his health struggles over the years.
Shaun's Latest Brain Surgery and Recovery
Taking to Instagram, Malone gave fans an update on his condition, disclosing that he had undergone another operation and was finding recovery particularly tough due to the ongoing heatwave. "Heatwave is a terrible time to be stuck in the hospital until Friday," he wrote alongside a photograph showing staples on his head. "Brain surgery is deffo not the highlight of my year."
Malone spent considerable time in and out of the hospital as a teenager after contracting a life-threatening infection while battling sinusitis. He previously opened up about his ordeal during an appearance on the Coaching From The Sofa podcast, revealing that doctors gave him less than a 10% chance of survival.
Life-Threatening Infection in 2010
"In 2010 I got sinusitis and in some way, the infection found its way back to my brain. My brain started swelling and my skull started crushing it so my mum took me to A&E saying, 'Look he's poorly!' and they said it was sinusitis," he said at the time. "And then I collapsed one day at home and I ended up going into a coma and they said to my mum and dad that I had a less than 10 per cent chance of living."
Malone was in a coma for a few weeks. Doctors told his parents that he had brain damage, though they did not know the extent or how it would affect him. "And when I woke up my brain damage affected me in some ways, like my memory but mostly the way it affected me was with my left side. I essentially had a stroke, I couldn't move my left arm, my left leg, even the left side of my face," he recalled.
Family's Heartbreaking Experience
Malone joined Gogglebox during its fourth series over a decade ago, captivating audiences with his witty television commentary alongside his father Tom, mother Julie, and siblings Tom Jr and Vanessa. Despite multiple cast changes over the years, the family has remained a constant presence on their famous sofa.
Behind the scenes, they were utterly heartbroken by Shaun's traumatic experience. Julie previously told the Mirror last year: "We were absolutely frantic. The doctor said Shaun only had a slim chance of surviving surgery, that there were no beds available. Tom said I just went doolally saying, 'He's going to be fine, he's going to be fine'. Thankfully Tom was level-headed and really pushed them."
"When a bed was finally found Shaun spent six hours in surgery to remove a piece of bone from his skull because of the swelling. He was in a coma for two weeks and when he came around had to learn to walk all over again," Julie added.
