Harrison Ford speaks out about epilepsy
Harrison Ford has revealed his 26-year-old daughter Georgia Ford has had epilepsy since she was a young child.
The 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' star has revealed that 26-year-old Georgia Ford - his child with late second wife Melissa Mathison - suffers from the seizure-inducing neurological disease and has praised her "perseverance" in living with the condition.
Speaking to the New York Daily News newspaper at the NYU Langone Medical Center's Find a Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures (FACES) event, he said: "She is joining me to thank FACES. I admire a lot of things about her. I admire her perseverance, her talent, her strength. She's my hero. I love her ... When you have a loved one who suffers from this disease, it can be devastating. You know how it affects their lives, their future, their opportunities and you want desperately to find mitigation. You want to find a way that they can live a comfortable and effective life."
Harrison also praised the work FACES with his daughter admitting it was an honour for him to support the organisation.
The Hollywood legend - who attended the event at Pier 60 at Chelsea Piers in New York with Georgia - added: "(FACES) have been a great service to my family. I am grateful for that. So I'm happy to be here."
Later on, Harrison, 73, gave a speech in which he shared his and Georgia's experience of the illness, revealing she had her first ever seizure while on a sleepover as a child and was first diagnosed as suffering from acute migraines.
In his emotional speech, he said :"A few years later she had another big one, this one on a beach in Malibu, where a Hollywood director found her, luckily. I said to myself this is Los Angeles, we have some of the best doctors in the world, they must know what's wrong with her. But nothing was diagnosed as epilepsy."
Recalling how he sought help at NYU after Georgia had a seizure while studying in London and then finally getting the correct diagnosis as epilepsy, he added: "Dr. Orinn Devinsky, who is a dear friend, made the diagnosis: epilepsy. He prescribed the right medication and therapy; she has not had a seizure in eight years."
Harrison also has son Malcolm, 28, from his marriage to screenwriter Melissa - who died last November at the age of 65 from cancer.
He also has two sons, Benjamin and Willard, from his marriage to first wife Mary Marquardt, and adopted son Liam with his spouse Calista Flockhart.
