Queen guitarist Brian May reveals he had a minor stroke in health ...
3 hours agoThu 5 Sep 2024 at 12:50am
Brian May says he is "all good" after suffering a minor stroke. (AP Photo: Chung Sung-Jun)
Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed he temporarily lost the use of his left arm after suffering a minor stroke recently.
In a post on his website, the 77-year-old musician shared the health update and said the good news was that he could still play guitar.
"I say this because it was in some doubt because that little health hiccup that I mentioned happened about a week ago and what they called it was a minor stroke," he said in a video.
"All of a sudden — out of the blue — I didn't have any control over this arm, so was a little scary."
May shared why he waited to say anything publicly about the stroke.
"I didn't want to say anything at the time because I didn't want anything surrounding, you know... I really don't want sympathy," he said.
The guitarist has been told by doctors to do "basically nothing" to fully recover.
"I'm grounded. I'm not allowed to go out – well I'm not allowed to drive, not allowed to get on a plane, not allowed to raise the heart rate too high, not allowed to have planes flying over, which will stress me," he said.
"But I'm good."
He also thanked healthcare professionals who treated him.
"I have to say I had the most fantastic care and attention from Frimley Hospital where I went [with] blue lights flashing … the lot," he said.
"Very exciting."
It's not the first time the musician has suffered a health scare.
In 2020, he underwent a heart procedure after a small heart attack.
At the time he said he "could have died".
May is one of the original members of the Queen, formed in 1970.
Freddie Mercury, the band's original lead singer, died in 1991 at the age of 45 from bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS.
His life is portrayed in the 2018 biographical film, Bohemian Rhapsody.
May used the rest of the update to discuss his documentary Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me, in which he fronts a campaign to end the culling of badgers.