More than two years after suffering a stroke (discussed publicly here forthe first time with WebMD), and almost 10 years after being diagnosed withdiabetes, Tonye Patano, 45, still struggles with controlling her weight. It's agoal made none the easier considering the actor just crisscrossed the country,co-starring in the revival of the play Legends alongside Dynastydivas Joan Collins and Linda Evans.
"My body is not in its optimum place," Patano concedes. "My goal is to resetmy plan and challenge myself to stay healthy, whether I'm on the road or not."Los Angeles is where the New York resident films Weeds, theShowtime series in which her character, Heylia, supplies marijuana toMary-Louise Parker's suddenly widowed housewife-turned-dealer. (The thirdseason premieres in August.)
Part of the character's formidable presence is due to her size, puttingPatano in a difficult position. If she loses weight, her diabetes symptoms arelikely to improve drastically. But Patano worries that a lighter Heylia couldhave a less powerful screen presence. "I can't separate my acting life and reallife," she says. "Real life is more important!" Luckily, producers support thecharacter, heavy or thin.
Patano's stroke happened just after filming wrapped on season one in 2005."I said to my friends, 'I feel like something is starting to happen.'" Just asshe uttered those words, she slumped to her right side.
Because she had witnessed strokes in other people, Patano asked doctors toexplore stroke as a possibility, even though her relatively young age and thefact that she could communicate clearly made a stroke unlikely. Still, roughly700,000 Americans have strokes each year, and it is the third most common causeof death, claiming about 163,000 lives yearly in the United States. Clots causethe majority of strokes, and the remainder are due to hemorrhages.
After a year on blood thinners, Patano is off prescription strokemedication. She continues to eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible,avoid sugar, and hike and dance for exercise. "My new challenge is to be beyondfabulous by 50," says Patano. "I've got five years to shine into my own."
