Kate Walsh Reveals She Was Diagnosed With a Brain Tumor Two Years Ago

Two years ago, Kate Walsh had just finished her role on NBC's Bad Judge, so she figured the exhaustion she was feeling was a result of the long hours. As it turns out, she was dealing with something much more serious.

In June 2015, after experiencing exhaustion and a habit of favoring the right side of her body, Walsh was diagnosed with a brain tumor the size of a lemon.

"I got an MRI and thank God I did, because it turned out I had a very sizable brain tumor in my left frontal lobe. And three days later I was in surgery having it removed," Walsh told Cosmopolitan.

The tumor was found to be benign upon surgery, but the actress recalled her terror upon learning her diagnosis.

"She starts to say, 'Well, it looks like you have a very sizable brain tumor' — and I just left my body," she said. "My assistant had driven me there, and I had to go get her so that she could take notes, because I was gone. It was never anything I would have imagined."

Surgeons were able to remove all of Walsh's tumor, and while the former star of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice kept the experience private at the time, she said she "knew that someday I would want to share it," imploring readers to "Go see a doctor!"

"We're all so socialized to try to self-diagnose, like 'I'll change my workout, I'll change my diet.' I was not one to go see doctors very often, other than for my annual OB-GYN appointment. So for me, it was a really big wakeup call to do annual check-ups," she added.

The actress noted that while she played Dr. Addison Montgomery on TV for years, being the patient was a completely different experience.

"It was the total opposite! You'd think that after playing Dr. Addison for the better part of a decade, where I spent more time on a hospital set than at my house, that I would feel somehow more comfortable, but I was such a little scaredy-cat," Walsh explained. "In the hospital, I felt like I might as well be six years old. I played a real badass on TV, but when it comes to being a patient it's such a vulnerable experience."

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

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