Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he recently suffered a minor stroke that resulted in damage to his left arm. The 77-year-old rock icon described a “health hiccup” last week that made him temporarily unable to control the hand he uses to pick out chords on his guitar, even as he assured his fans that he’s on the mend.
“I think 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 and all of a sudden — out of the blue – I didn’t have any control over this arm so was a little scary,” May said in a video posted on his website in which he wiggled his left hand as proof that he’s getting better.
“I have to say I had the most fantastic care and attention from Frimley Hospital where I went blue lights flashing… the lot. Very exciting!!,” he added. May said he initially didn’t want to say anything because, “I really don’t want sympathy. PLEASE DON’T DO THAT cuz it’ll clutter up my inbox and I hate that.”
The good news, he said, is that he’s okay now and that he’s listening to his doctors, who have “grounded” him, which means no driving, no flying and no raising his heart rate too high.
The health update came as May is busy promoting his recently aired new documentary, Brian May: The Badgers, the Farmers and Me, which chronicles his decades long campaign to end the UK’s annual culling of badgers. According to the Guardian, around 200,000 badgers have been killed over the past decade in the UK over fears that the badgers are responsible for the spread of bovine tuberculosis, which results in the slaughter of around 20,000 infected cattle per year.
Back in 2020, May revealed a “near death” experience he had after suffering a heart attack.
See May’s video below.
