{"id":138494,"date":"2025-11-16T22:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T22:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/138494\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T22:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T22:23:09","slug":"brian-may-says-health-issues-were-a-wake-up-call-as-he-issues-update-after-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/138494\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian May says health issues were a \u2018wake-up call\u2019 as he issues update after stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Queen rocker Brian May<\/a> has said that his health issues, including a minor stroke last year<\/a>, were a \u201cwake-up call\u201d.<\/p>\n

During an appearance on Alan Titchmarsh<\/a>\u2019s Love Your Weekend, the 78-year-old musician said he was lucky to have recovered after experiencing a \u201cnumber\u201d of conditions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Titchmarsh told him: \u201cWe were concerned, you had a bit of a stroke. But, you seem to be fully recovered, that was last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

May responded: \u201cI\u2019ve had a number of things, Alan, yeah, the stroke was one of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI\u2019ve been lucky, I get these things, but I seem to be able to get out of them. They give you a wake-up call.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September last year, May reassured fans that he could still play the guitar after experiencing a minor stroke that made him temporarily lose control of his left arm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey called it a minor stroke, and all of a sudden out of the blue, I didn\u2019t have any control of this arm,\u201d he said, moving his left arm and flexing his fingers to show the movement had returned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little scary, I have to say. I had the most fantastic care and attention from the hospital where I went, blue lights flashing, the lot, it was very exciting. I might post a video if you like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Brian May pictured in July (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cI didn\u2019t wanna say anything at the time because I didn\u2019t want anything surrounding it, I really don\u2019t want sympathy. Please don\u2019t do that, because it\u2019ll clutter up my inbox, and I hate that. The good news is I\u2019m OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

May has suffered health issues in the past, including a heart attack<\/a> that turned out to be a symptom of an arterial disease.<\/p>\n

The guitarist told fans he was \u201cvery near death\u201d after being admitted to hospital in May 2020, where doctors discovered that three of his arteries were blocked and in danger of stopping the blood supply to his heart.<\/p>\n

\"Brian<\/p>\n

open image in gallery<\/p>\n

Brian May appearing on Alan Titchmarsh\u2019s \u2018Love Your Weekend\u2019 (ITV)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a long climb back,\u201d he told The Times<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve had complications due to the drugs I\u2019m on, one of which was a stomach explosion that nearly killed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He admitted he was baffled by the heart attack: \u201cI don\u2019t drink, I don\u2019t smoke, I don\u2019t have high cholesterol and I was exercising through the tour, so why did it happen?\u201d he questioned. \u201cAt least I now have a heart that is working far better than it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

May formed the rock band Queen in 1970 with Freddie Mercury <\/a>and Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon joining a year later. <\/p>\n

They went on to become one of the biggest-selling acts of all time, releasing a string of hit singles including \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d, \u201cWe Will Rock You\u201d and \u201cWe Are the Champions\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-138494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}