Getty Gets Personal About His Daughter’s Struggle

It is not uncommon for actors to draw on personal experience to portray the emotion necessary for a certain role or scene. This was the case with actor Balthazar Getty who plays Tommy Walker in the TV drama Brothers and Sisters. According to reports, Getty’s character finds out that his baby daughter has a potentially fatal illness in a December episode.

Getty has revealed that dealing with those heart wrenching scenes reminded him of what happened with his own daughter Grace who was born in 2001. He was quoted as saying in an interview, “My firstborn was severely premature and spent four months in hospital… You’re so scared. So anytime I’m playing that kind of scene, all I know how to do is think about what I’ve been through.”

Actor Dennis Quaid had a scare of his own. His newborn twins Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace were given an accidental drug overdose in November of 2007 at a Los Angeles area hospital. Thankfully the children recovered after treatment and are now doing fine.

CNN anchor Nancy Grace found that her health was in danger while pregnant with twins John David and Lucy Elizabeth. She was suffering from a pulmonary edema and the condition lasted till after the babies were born. Grace was successfully treated with anti-coagulant medication.

Perhaps Getty’s revelation of his daughter’s struggle will be of some comfort to parents out there with babies in similar situations. It helps sometimes to know that you are not alone. Stories like these with positive outcomes should offer hope to many parents with sick children. It is important also to ensure that you have a good support structure if you have to deal with your baby being ill.