Brian May Recovering From ‘Scary’ Stroke That Affected His Arm

Brian May revealed he recently suffered a minor stroke that left him unable to move his left arm.

The Queen guitarist said he hadn’t discussed the emergency because he didn’t want any public attention, and added that he was making a full recovery while observing doctors’ orders to do nothing but rest.

“The good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days,” May, 77, said in the social media video below. “I say this because it was in some doubt, because [a] little health hiccup… happened about a week ago – what they called it was a minor stroke.”

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He continued: “[A]ll of a sudden, out of the blue, I didn’t have any control over this arm. So it was a little scary, I have to say.” He thanked the staff at the hospital he’d attended, recalling the experience of “blue lights flashing, the lot” as “very exciting.”

May had kept quiet, he explained, because “I didn’t want anything surrounding it. I really don’t want sympathy – please don’t do that, because it’ll clutter up my inbox, and I hate that.”

He added: “I’m okay and doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing. I’m grounded; I’m not allowed to go out, drive, get on a plane; I’m not allowed to raise the heart rate too high. But I am good.”

Last month May appeared on BBC TV in the U.K. to host a documentary titled Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers And Me, in which he continued his campaign against badger culling. The animals are destroyed in a bid to prevent the spread of bovine tuberculosis – but May has long argued that there’s no need for the extreme response, and aimed to prove it on the show, where he worked with a farmer to eradicate the disease without harming any badgers.

Watch Brian May’s Health Update