“Harry Potter” actress Miriam Margolyes can no longer walk due to her worsening spinal condition.
Margolyes, 83, opened up about her battle with spinal stenosis — the narrowing of the spinal canal — during a recent interview with Closer Magazine.
“I can’t walk very well, and I’m registered disabled,” she told the outlet, per People . “I use all kinds of assistance. I’ve got two sticks and a walker and they’re such a bore, but I’ve just got a mobility scooter, which is a lot of fun.”
“It’s like having a new toy,” she lightheartedly added. “It’s very good for shopping because it’s got a basket on it – and I do enjoy whizzing around on it immensely.”
According to the Mayo Clinic, spinal stenosis “can put pressure on the spinal cord and nerves” resulting in “pain, tingling, numbness and muscle weakness.”
Margolyes — who played Professor Pomona Sprout in the Wizarding World movies — has also been diagnosed with osteoporosis and underwent major heart surgery last year to replace her aortic valve.
Margolyes, pictured in 2018, has spinal stenosis and osteoporosis. Fairfax Media via Getty Images The 83-year-old actress, photographed in 2018, also underwent heart surgery last year. Dave Benett/Getty Images
“When you’re young, you never think about death. You just think about your next f—k basically,” she joked. “I think about death a lot.”
“You can’t help but be aware that the amount of time ahead is less than the time before you,” she added. “I’m still ducking and diving. I’m still open to new experiences. I’m just very conscious that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.”
While Margolyes has come to terms with death, she fears she might run out of money before her time is up.
Margoyles does not fear death, previously telling British Vogue that she is “very conscious that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.” Dave Benett/Getty Images However, she worries about running out of money to care for her needs. David M. Benett
“I’m worried that I won’t have enough money for carers when I finally get paralysed or whatever it is that’s going to happen to me,” she told Radio Times last week.
“I’m saving up cash so that I can pay people to look after me and my partner,” she continued. “We don’t have children, so I need to make sure I’m going to be looked after in the way that I’ve become accustomed.”
Margolyes has been with her partner, Heather Sutherland, since 1968 — two years after she came out as lesbian.
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