British musician Brian May, a founding member and guitarist for the rock band Queen, has reported that he temporarily experienced partial paralysis of his left arm after suffering a “minor stroke” last month.
“The good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days, and 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,” the songwriter explained. “All of a sudden, out of the blue, I didn’t have any control over this arm, so it was a little scary.”
After experiencing his medical emergency, May was transported to Frimley Park Hospital, located in Frimley, England, where he received “fantastic care and attention,” he said.
May said he was hesitant to share his experience with the public because of the unwanted attention it would bring.
“I really don’t want sympathy—please don’t do that ‘cause it will clutter up my inbox, and I hate that,” he said, adding that he is feeling much better following his recent health scare.
“Good news is I’m okay, just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing.
Prior Health Issues
May, who co-founded Queen in 1970 alongside singer Freddy Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, has faced a number of other health-related issues in recent years.In May 2020, the guitarist took to social media to share that he had ripped his gluteus maximus, a gluteal muscle located at the back of the hip and buttock area, “in a moment of over-enthusiastic gardening.”
However, in a subsequent video posted later that month, May said he had undergone a second MRI due to the ongoing pain, leading doctors to discover that his torn gluteus maximus was not the source of his agony.
May offered his thoughts on what contributed to the compression of his sciatic nerve in the post’s accompanying caption.
“I think 50 years of running around with a guitar strap over my left shoulder holding a heavy guitar might have something to do with it,” he wrote. “But it probably WAS all worth it!”
Elsewhere in the clip, May explained that while grappling with his back pain, he had experienced a “small” heart attack.
“When I say small, you know, it’s not something that did me any harm,” he said. “It was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest, and tightness, and that feeling in the arms, and sweating.”
May, who said he had previously considered himself “a very healthy guy,” was subsequently taken to the hospital, where he underwent an angiogram—a diagnostic imaging procedure that examines blood vessels and blood flow in the body.
“I actually turned out to have three arteries which were congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart,” he said, adding that he had opted to get three stents inserted into his heart instead of undergoing triple bypass surgery.
“I walked out [of the hospital] with a heart that’s very strong now,” he said. “So I think I’m in good shape for some time to come, and if I’m not, we can have another angiogram.”
