( CM ) - British actress SAMANTHA MORTON was left close to death after suffering a severe stroke two years ago - which almost brought her successful career to an abrupt end. The Golden Globe-winning actress has spoken out for the first time about the debilitating illness - which has remained a secret, until now - which left her unable to walk after part of the ceiling of her new home collapsed on top of her in 2006. As a result of the incident, Morton pulled out of the thriller Transiberian and was replaced by fellow Brit Emily Mortimer as she took a year-and-a-half break from acting to recuperate from her head injuries. But her health crisis was a lot worse than the public had been led to believe - a few days after the accident, she had a stroke brought on by the impact of the ceiling collapse, and she was left almost bedridden after losing control of her legs. But with the support of her friends and family, she soon learned to walk again and has since made a full recovery. However, she credits her close pal Jason Pierce - the singer from rock band Spiritualized - with helping her to overcome her bad health after his own life-threatening experience with pneumonia. She says, "Jason and I have been mirroring each other. He was really sick and then I had a stroke at the beginning of (that) year. "He was the only person I knew who understood what that was like, being near to death. He's just an incredible person. He's very courageous, and he helped me get through it all." Morton is now back to full health and in January (08) gave birth to a daughter, Edie, with filmmaker fiance Harry Holm.
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