When you think about Chuck Norris, you probably think about his kickboxing and fighting abilities. He became famous because of his ability to entertain in action films, but he is also a husband and father.
Chuck Norris and Gena O’Kelley met in 1997 and within a year, they were married. They have a pair of twins together and they also have other children from previous relationships that they raised together as well.
Despite the fact that they have a 23 year age difference, they have become a symbol for relationships worldwide. They are both very dedicated to their relationship, even though Norris has had a very busy career.
Through the years, Chuck Norris starred in many different television shows and movies, including “Walker, Texas Ranger,” “The Way of the Dragon,” and “Invasion U.S.A.”. He was a martial arts expert and often did his own stunts, and he did them very well.
In the 2010s, however, Chuck Norris put his life on hold along with his career when he cared for his sick wife. She was having some serious medical issues that involved a number of MRIs she had taken.
Through the difficult times, Nora stayed by her side and they have even gone on to spread awareness about what took place.
In 2013, O’Kelley had to have some scans done because of medical complications. The series of MRI scans used contrasting images, and for that, she needed a dye injected that would serve as the contrast agent.
A contrast agent allows the organs and blood vessels to be seen better by radiologists. They were concerned about the possibility that they were getting too much, but they were told that it was perfectly normal, although she did have three separate scans.
Unfortunately, something went wrong with the injections, which contained a type of heavy metal named gadolinium. As a result, she became very sick right after the first injection with nerve pain, brain fog, and muscle weakness.
“Within hours after the first jab I felt like my whole body was on fire — as if acid had been passed through it. The burning was isolated at first, but it just kept spreading.”
She was told that the contrast agent would leave her system within a few hours and that she should drink water to help flood it out of her system. Despite the doctors telling her all would be okay, she realized soon that there was something serious wrong.
Norris felt the weight of this problem and at one point, he even asked: “I can take her anywhere in the world, I’m blessed enough to have the money to do that, but where do I take her?”
Eventually, they found a doctor from Nevada and he told her that the issue was critical. He put all of his work projects on hold and his wife’s health came first. For five months, he slept next to her on the couch as she recovered.
As it turns out, the gadolinium had not left her body after a few hours as expected. They found large levels of it in her system.
She said: “This is in the danger zone and you will see that I stayed at the level for a very, very long time.”
Chuck Norris spoke about the time that his wife was sick, saying: “Well it’s the helpless feeling, you know ’cause I’m kind of a take-charge guy, and then here I have something where I cannot do anything and it was horrifying,” he said, as per WND. “And I just thank God that we were able to weather it and that she did get better and I got my wife back.
“Everyone that takes gadolinium is not going to get sick. It’s ones that are sensitive like O’Kelley. I’ve taken them and I’ve never gotten sick. But that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do something about the other people that are getting sick from the gadolinium.”
More than $2 million has been spent on her treatments and he’s even put his show business career on hold to campaign for her. He said: “I’ve given up my film career to concentrate on Gena, my whole life right now is about keeping her alive. I believe this issue is so important.”
