Brian’s sheer heart attack
Guitarist nearly died after tearing buttock
BRIAN May has had emergency surgery for a 40-minute heart attack after he tore his buttock muscle while gardening.
The Queen guitarist, 72, revealed he was left ‘very near death’.
In a video on Instagram, May said that he decided against open heart surgery and instead chose to have three stents inserted into his heart.
After ripping his gluteus maximus in a gardening accident earlier this month, May said a period of ‘real agony’ followed. He was told that this level of pain was likely due to more than a torn muscle.
An MRI scan revealed a compressed sciatic nerve in his lower spine. May said the pain was like having ‘a screwdriver in my back all the time’. He was later rushed to hospital again, after he began to have chest pain.
‘The rest of the story is a little more bizarre, a bit more shocking, well I was shocked because I thought I was a pretty healthy guy,’ he said in the video.
‘But anyway, 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.’
May captioned the video ‘Hmm... Sheer Heart Attack eh?’, a reference to the name of Queen’s third album, pictured. He joked: ‘I wondered if it might upset some people who had actually had heart attacks. I’m actually quite relieved now that I’m in that club.’ He added: ‘It was a lot of pressure because I actually turned out to have three arteries that were congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart.’
May, who is married to actress Anita Dobson, 71, explained that he considered having open heart surgery, but he opted to have three stents.
He said the surgery ‘wasn’t that easy’ for him, because of the excruciating pain in his leg.
‘But when I came round it was like nothing happened, I couldn’t feel that they’d been in here, and I still can’t, it’s been amazing,’ he added.
‘I walked away with a heart that’s very strong now so I think I’m in good shape for some time to come.
‘I was very near death because of this, but the pain that I was in was because of something else, it’s funny how things work, but I’m good, I’m here, I’m ready to rock.’
The musician, who has encouraged over-60s to have an angiogram, an X-ray for blood vessels, was last week seen hobbling on crutches with a face mask hanging around his neck.
He previously said the nerve pain made him give in to ‘heavyduty painkillers, and in the end I was in a nightmare world’.
But on Sunday night, he appeared to be feeling himself again, sharing a video of a ‘micro concert’ on Instagram.
‘I’m good, I’m ready to rock’