Actor Ashton Kutcher could not see, hear or walk after rare autoimmune disorder
LOS ANGELES - Actor Ashton Kutcher has opened up for the first time about the rare autoimmune disorder he was diagnosed with two years ago which left him unable to see, hear or walk.
"I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis, that like knocked out my vision, it knocked out my hearing, it knocked out like all my equilibrium," the 44-year-old said in an episode of National Geographic's Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge, which aired on Monday (Aug 8) in the United States.
He spoke to host Grylls about the condition, which involves inflammation of the blood vessels and may affect one or more of the body's organs, saying: "It took me like a year to build it all back up. You don't really appreciate it until it's gone."
The star of sitcom That '70s Show (1998 to 2006) added: "(I am) lucky to be alive."
Kutcher, who has two young children with his wife, actress Mila Kunis, 38, said that the disorder made him look at life differently.
"The minute you start seeing your obstacles as things that are made for you, to give you what you need, then life starts to get fun, right? You start surfing on top of your problems instead of living underneath them," he said.
Grylls, 48, a British adventurer who is known for presenting wilderness survival shows, said: "What do they say in survival? Storms make you stronger."
Referring to Kutcher, Grylls added: "And I think he's living proof of that."
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