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What is aphasia and is it possible for Bruce Willis to make a comeback?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Actor Bruce Willis is stepping away from the spotlight, perhaps indefinitely.

The Hollywood star was recently diagnosed with a condition known as aphasia.

According to the National Institutes of Health, aphasia is characterized as a condition that impacts a person’s ability to speak. Possible causes include a stroke, head injury, brain tumor or certain diseases.

The disorder is most common in older adults. However, it spares no one, including children. Approximately 1 million people in the U.S. have aphasia and approximately 180,000 are diagnosed each year.

Aphasia results in damage to two parts of the brain. One is the Broca’s area, which is responsible for speech.

Patients begin to eliminate small words such as “is,” “and” or “the” as their cognitive decline progresses. The NIH gives the example of Broca’s aphasia as a person saying, “Walk dog.”

What they really mean to say is, “I will take the dog for a walk.”

Wernicke’s aphasia also causes speech problems, but instead leads to a loss of ability to convey language in a coherent way. It’s almost as if the person knows what they want to say, but when they do say it, the sentence makes no sense.

The NIH gives the example of one patient saying, “You know smoodle pinkered and that want to get him round and take care of him like you want before.”

Fortunately for the “Die Hard” star, aphasia is sometimes temporary and heals on its own without treatment.

But speech therapy and brain exercise interventions can aid in healing and regenerating the damaged brain cells.