“The Partridge Family” actor Danny Bonaduce is undergoing brain surgery after being diagnosed with hydrocephalus, a disorder that has rendered him unable to walk.
In an interview with TMZ, Bonaduce revealed that he was diagnosed with the disorder in March after nearly a year of struggling through symptoms, including difficulty talking, walking, and balancing.
“My life was talking to doctors,” he said. “I’ll tell you what … I had meetings with five doctors on one single Tuesday [and] nobody [could] figure out what it was, and I thought, well, this is a big deal. I’m falling down now. That can’t be good.”
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Bonaduce recalled meeting with “a hundred doctors” after first noticing symptoms in April 2022. “I met with this one guy who’s all into hydrocephalus. We did tests to see if that’s what I had, and currently it looks like that’s what I was having.”
Hydrocephalus is an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles of the brain and can be present at or near birth or develop through damage or injury, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
“I can’t figure out what caused it because I’ve done so many stupid things on a reality TV show,” Bonaduce told TMZ. “I took a guitar to the head, and that hurt and was possibly the cause of all this.
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He also cited a 2009 boxing match in which he got “punched in the face by Jose Canseco, a 265-pound professional athlete.”
Bonaduce said his wife, Amy Railsback, has been taking care of him, and he’s been able to record his radio show, KZOK-FM’s “The Danny Bonaduce & Sarah Morning Show,” from a home studio.
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Now he has brain surgery scheduled for Monday to get a shunt installed in his head. “From what I hear, if the diagnosis is correct — that’s hydrocephalus — it’ll be 50 better percent right [away],” he said.
The former child star explained that he’s trying not to get his hopes up but he’ll be “completely bummed” if the operation doesn’t work. “I can’t walk currently, I just can’t,” he said. “10 percent would be great. … I’m never gonna run track, I’m never gonna box again, but if I can get from here to the kitchen on my own, bravo.”