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Orlando Bloom almost lost ability to walk at 19 after near-death experience

Orlando Bloom almost lost ability to walk at 19 after near-death experience
Actor Orlando Bloom, recipient of the Britannia Humanitarian Award, poses at the Britannia Awards hosted by BAFTA Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on Oct 30, 2015.
PHOTO: Reuters

Orlando Bloom endured a "dark time" after suffering a near-death experience at 19.

The 45-year-old actor fell and broke his back as a teenager, and he admits that the injury left him in a negative frame of mind.

In a video shared on Instagram by Unicef, Orlando explained: "When I was 19, I fell three floors from a window and broke my back. I was very fortunate to survive the fall because my spinal cord was still just intact. I was told for the first four days that I may never walk again.

"That was really the beginning of what was a long and painful journey for me into recognising and understanding some of the patterns that had been in my life that had led me to having numerous accidents. And the culmination was breaking my back, which was a near-death experience."

The Hollywood star underwent spinal surgery and his recovery was a complicated process.

Orlando recalled being in a "dark" frame of mind as he made a slow recovery from injury.

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He said: "I would say the months after the fall were quite a dark time. As somebody who'd sort of always been very active in my life, it felt very restrictive all of a sudden and I was in a lot of pain."

Last year, Orlando took to Instagram to share a throwback snap of himself amid his recovery.

The actor posted a photo of himself riding a bike while also wearing a back brace.

He captioned the image: "That's me in my back brace circa 1998 about three months after I fell three floors and crushed my spine, narrowly escaping death and paralysis… grateful everyday for my limbs that allow me to push my limits and live life on my edge (safer now [prayer emoji] ) (sic)"

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