“There were moments of great sadness. I have already mourned my previous self”

Nuno Markl was present at the “Great Interview” of RTP News, where he spoke openly about the health problem he faced at the end of last year. The humorist suffered two strokes in November 2025, which led him to stay long months hospitalized. At this moment, the radio player, who was left with the mobility of a part of the affected body, continues to undergo physiotherapy but was discharged in June. 

The presenter of the “Taskmaster” began by saying that “he feels good, happy to be thinner, more elegant and ensures that “he learned to relativize things from day to day”

“ I am grateful to be alive, the case was badly stopped ", took over. 

The day everything changed

Mark explains that he already had some symptoms that were devalued by you. “He attributed to tiredness. I was living a quiet life, I was doing two projects, and I thought when I was 54, I could still bring them together. I was starting to get a bad headache. I didn't care about the symptoms. My life was a living wheel. He was mad at work”, he assumed. 

But everything changed on November 20, 2025. “It was a normal day, I was very relaxed until. I went to the bathroom and suddenly I realized I couldn't get up, I didn't have the strength. I started falling. [...] It was dramatic, I was alone with my son at home, I had to call him. [I was aware] that it could be a stroke, I didn't want to admit it. My son called the emergency department ", he also told, mentioning the importance of the 17-year-old during the process. 

“I didn’t realize the gravity of the thing until later [...] It was important not to fall asleep because I could go. [They told my girlfriend, Teresa] “He is in resuscitation, he is in danger of life right now. I didn’t know that until later.” It was all surreal“, Nuno Markl took over. 

The second stroke a few days later

About five days after the first stroke, Nuno Markl experienced another stroke.

“It was at Egas Moniz Hospital. I realized why I couldn't get my foot out of the way. I realized none of this was working again. My hand was getting up, I was very excited. It happened five, six days after the first one. He went back. I was in tears on the stretcher thinking, “How does this happen to me again?”, added.

“ The strokes are a lottery the result they may have. Anything can happen. I had a hemorrhagic stroke first, the most deadly but the easiest to recover. The next one was an ischaemic. It's bizarre this second stroke. I'm doing speech therapy to lift my muscles out of my face. It was distressing”, Markl assumed.

The six months of hospitalization 

The radio player knew that recovery would be long and full of ups and downs. “I missed life in general, having a normal life. [...] It was an adventure, there were moments of great sadness. Crossing Christmas there was sad. Everyone told me it wouldn't be easy, that it would be a marathon. I've mourned my previous self, [i can not fully recover]”, he explained. 

Markl now does physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy, more hand and arm centered. 

Return home and fractured shoulder 

When the communicator managed to return home six months later, he ended up in a domestic accident, fell and fractured his shoulder. 

“ The fall was ridiculous, I went to waste something, I saw a cockroach, I turned around myself and fell on this arm ", lamented. 

The support and affection of friends 

“ It’s super important to have visitors, it felt good to see people, it was a breath of normality”. In the hospital room received several figures known as Ricardo Araújo Pereira, Cândido Costa, Toy, Barbara Tinoco, Catarina Furtado. “I loved to have visitors but I got tired,” he explained.

Recovery 

Nuno Markl knows that full or partial recovery will take time. “I think it will take time, I have no illusions about it, the big fight is to try to have more movement in the hand and arm. I can stand. I'm not in a wheelchair anymore. I'm perfecting the floor, learning to walk again. It takes so much mechanism for something so banal. At home I can already climb the steps”. 

The importance of humor in recovery and the new project

Nuno Markl will be performing the film "The Man Who Bite the Dog" where the most popular stories he's been telling over the years will be on the big screen. His stroke experience will also be present, as he made a point of pointing everything out.

“ I was very much helped by the medical teams. They were very humorous. I was collecting little details and there was one at first that was a comedy mine. An assistant comes to help me pee and I'm there very hugged and she tells me she likes your work very much. I took notes and when I got back to the argument of the ‘Man Who Bited the Dog’ there is a mortar that is the story of my recovery, I included all this. It can be good for me while catharsis and for those who go through it ", confessed. 

At the end of the interview, Markl said that fan love and support was essential for recovery and that “it was very moving.”.

From now on, the radio player is more careful with food and knows that he has to reduce the level of work, although he is happy to return soon to the “Taskmaster”.