https://youtu.be/c6GrbAJq7tM
Keala Settle gave a show-stopping performance at the Oscars singing This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, but almost did not happen. A week before the big moment, she suffered a mini-stroke brought on by Moyamoya disease.
The weeks leading up to that night, she was busy promoting the movie all over the world, got food poisoning in Japan and was just worn down. When she stepped into the rehearsal studio, she broke down and cried. Then she felt a pain in her head and the right side of her body went numb. All she could do was scream for help. Within a half hour, she had feeling again, but something was seriously wrong with her.
When she got help, she found out she had a mini-stroke that required surgery. But that did not stop her from rehearsing that Wednesday and eventually performing flawlessly on Hollywood’s biggest night.
On April 27th, she got the surgery. Now seven months later, she tells People, “The universe had its chance to take me and I’m still here.” Then she added, “I’m just so grateful to be alive and I’m not giving that up.”
The show must go on and it is going on for her. She will next be heard on the reimagined The Greatest Showman soundtrack singing that song with Missy Elliott. Then in January, she will be seen in Fox’s live version of Rent.
