Brian May: My heart attack hell
Show must go on after agonising ordeal, says May
Queen legend Brian May has told how he came “very near death” after a heart attack, but has promised fans he is back from the brink and “ready to rock” once more.
The 72-year-old guitarist had emergency surgery to have stents fitted to clear three blocked arteries, after declining a triple heart bypass.
Thanking doctors “from the bottom of my heart” for saving him, he says: “I’m incredibly grateful that I now have a life to lead again.”
Brian was being treated for “excruciating” pain after he ripped a muscle in his backside during some “over enthusiastic gardening” earlier this month.
The rocker was in crippling pain for almost a fortnight because the injury compressed his sciatic nerve and tore his gluteus maximus.
He reveals: “In the middle of the whole saga of the painful backside, I had a small heart attack.
“It was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest and tightness, and that feeling in the arms and sweating – you think, ‘Actually this is a heart attack’.”
His doctor drove him to hospital where he had an angiogram, which revealed he had three congested arteries. Despite “a lot of pressure” to have open heart surgery, he opted for stents – tubes which open blocked arteries – so he could leave hospital the same day.
He says: “A lot of people said,
‘If you don’t do this you’re throwing away your only opportunity and you will regret it for the rest of your life’.
“I was lucky to be treated as an emergency case. I think it was an emergency.”
Brian, married to former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson, 71, for 20 years, was still experiencing intense pain from the gardening accident and damaging his spine, which required two MRI scans to pinpoint the problems.
He admits heart surgery “would have been a doddle” had it not been for the “excruciating” pain in his upper leg.
He says: “It wasn’t that easy, but the only reason it wasn’t easy for me was the excruciating pain in my leg, otherwise it would have been a doddle.
“They had to put me out in the end, because I was writhing about and pulling tubes out because the pain was so bad.”
As soon as his heart procedure was finished, Brian admits he could not feel a thing. “When I came around, it was as if nothing had happened. I couldn’t feel that they’d been in here, I couldn’t feel anything and I still can’t. It’s an incredible operation done by the right, skilful person. And I thank them from the bottom of my heart. I’ve walked out with a heart that’s very strong – I feel I’m in good shape for years to come.”
But he is still recovering from his gardening injuries. He says: “I’m a lot better now. I’m free of that terrible pain.
“It destroys your mind – I can’t believe what it does to your brain. I wanted to jump at some points. I couldn’t believe the pain. It was like somebody was digging a screwdriver into my back.”
Brian, who has three children from his first marriage and four grandchildren, admits he became “p***ed off ” with jokes about his “pain in the bum”.
And he believes everyone over the age of 60 should be given regular angiograms, as he thinks many people could, like him,
be suffering underlying problems that are undiagnosed.
Brian says: “I thought I was a very healthy guy and everyone says you’ve got great blood pressure, you’ve got a great heart rate and everything, and I keep fit, on my bike and everything, good diet, not too much fat.
“I had great electrocardiograms. Nothing could tell me I was about to be in real, real trouble.
“I think we have all got to look at ourselves as we get to our autumn years and what seems to be a very healthy heart might not be. I could have died from the blockages. I was actually very near death because of this, but the pain I had was from something else. Anyway, I didn’t
die. I’m incredibly grateful that I now have a life to lead again. I’m good, I’m here and I’m ready to rock.”
He says he would already be back “full of beans” had it not been for his leg issues. “I’ve only just got to the point where the leg is livable,” he says, admitting he was on “severe” painkillers up until a few days ago.
He says: “I’m good. There’s no need to panic.”
In an Instagram post about his “medical adventures”, he joked about Queen’s 1974 album Sheer Heart Attack, admitting he always had reservations about the title in case it “upset some people who had actually had heart attacks”. He went on: “I’m actually quite relieved now that I’m in that club – and
I don’t find it upsetting at all!” He blamed his back problems on “50 years of running around with a guitar strap over my left shoulder”. But he admitted: “It probably WAS all worth it!”
Brian advises fans worried about their own health: “What seems to be a healthy heart might not be – I would get it checked if I were you.”
He has been the guitarist with Queen since the early 70s.
The band, which was fronted by Freddie Mercury until his death in 1991 at the age of 45, recently released a new version of We Are The Champions to raise money for the World Health Organisation’s Covid-19 fund.
In 2014, Brian celebrated with a cup of tea when he was given the all clear after undergoing a prostate biopsy following a cancer scare.
I thought I was a very healthy guy I keep fit, on my bike, good diet
BRIAN MAY QUEEN STAR ON HEALTH EMERGENCY