A Harry Potter star has undergone emergency surgery after doctors discovered a life-threatening injury that could have left him unable to walk or talk.
Nick Moran, who played Scabior in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, had reportedly been suffering from neck pain when he was urged by his girlfriend to seek medical attention.
According to close friend Terry Stone, the 55-year-old actor initially brushed it off. “Nick’s girlfriend was saying ‘You’ve got to get it checked out,’ but as a bloke he said, ‘No I’ll put some Deep Heat on it,’” Stone told the Daily Mail.
Eventually, Moran went to the doctor, where the severity of his condition quickly became clear. “Then he went to the doctors and got sent to A&E and told, ‘We need to take you in for an emergency operation because this is life-threatening,’” Stone said.
Doctors informed Moran that his neck pain was actually due to spinal cord damage - an injury serious enough to impact functions related to both movement and speech.
“I spoke to one of his family members, and he damaged his neck somehow, and it’s affecting his spinal cord and some of the things that operate your speech and your legs,” Stone explained.
Ahead of the surgery, Moran was warned of the devastating possibility of not being able to walk or talk again. “He’s not in the best of health, but when he came out of the operation, I was like ‘thank god’ because I think he’d decided he’d rather not walk or talk than die,” Stone shared.
The surgery itself was a delicate procedure, with doctors removing four bones from Moran’s neck and replacing them with artificial ones.
“It was microsurgery, and because there’s so many nerves around the neck and spine this made the operation tricky with those awful chances of not being able to speak or walk again,” Stone said.
Thankfully, Moran pulled through the operation and is now back home. While he’s facing a challenging road ahead, the early signs of recovery are encouraging.
“He’s speaking now, which is a good sign, but he’s shuffling around like a 100-year-old and has a neck brace on and taking it easy,” said Stone.
A representative for Moran confirmed the surgery to the outlet, saying: “Nick had urgent spinal surgery over a week ago, which carries the usual risks of such procedures. All went well - he is now back home on his way to a full recovery after a short stay in the hospital. He would like to thank any well-wishers for their concerns.”
The actor's Harry Potter character was a member of the gang led by Fenrir Greyback (Dave Legeno) and appears in the final two films, released in 2010 and 2011, in the franchise.
Moran, whose debut screen appearance was in the film Buddy’s Song (1990), also had a role in Guy Ritchie’s 1998 film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
He is also a singer who fronts his own Frank Sinatra tribute band.