Queen guitarist suffers mild stroke but says he’s doing well

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May has revealed he recently suffered a minor stroke, which left him unable to use his left arm.

However, the 77-year-old rock legend said he is now doing well and has regained enough mobility to be able to play music again.

“The good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days,” he said in a video posted on its website on Wednesday.

“I say this because there was some doubt, because this little health problem that I spoke about happened about a week ago, and what they called it was a minor stroke.

“All of a sudden, without warning, I had no control over that arm. It was a little scary, I have to say.”

He praised the doctors at Frimley Hospital in Surrey, “where I went, the blue lights were flashing, the whole thing – very exciting”.

“The good news is that I’m fine. I’m just doing what I’m told, which is nothing at all.”

He said he was “grounded”, adding: “I’m not allowed to go out – I mean, I’m not allowed to drive, I’m not allowed to get on a plane, I’m not allowed to get my heart rate up too much.”

Sir Brian filmed the video outdoors and, as a plane could be heard overhead, joked: “I’m not allowed to have planes flying overhead, it would stress me out. But I’m fine.”

The star added that he didn’t say anything publicly at the time of the minor stroke because “I really don’t want sympathy.”

“Please don’t do this because it would clutter my inbox and I hate that,” he added.

The revelation comes almost two weeks after a BBC One documentary was broadcast by Sir Brian about his campaign to protect badgers from culling.

In his new video, he also spoke about the program, saying it had received “great feedback from farmers in particular – and also from wildlife conservationists, of course.”

Badger culling is used as a means of preventing the spread of tuberculosis in cattle.

The musician added: “We have been attacked very violently from some sides, and you have to look very carefully, because the people who are screaming the loudest are of course the ones who feel the most threatened.”

The show has been criticised by bodies including the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Council, who said “It lacked key elements that could have helped inform viewers of the facts about bovine tuberculosis.”

According to the NHS, a stroke is a serious, potentially fatal condition that occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off.

A common sign is that the person feels weakness or numbness in one arm, one side of their face seems to droop, and their speech is slurred or slurred.

There is also a related condition called transient ischemic attack (TIA), in which the blood supply to the brain is temporarily cut off, causing what is often called a “mini-stroke.”

Learn more about how to detect a stroke on the NHS website.

May’s stroke comes four years after had a “small” heart attack.

At the time, he said he was shocked to realise he was not as healthy as he thought and was “very close to death”.

He discovered that three arteries were “congested and at risk of blocking the blood supply to my heart” and subsequently underwent surgery to install three stents – tiny tubes designed to hold the blocked arteries open.

May’s guitar playing, songwriting and singing helped propel Queen to become one of the biggest bands in the world in the 1970s and 1980s.

He wrote hits like We Will Rock You, Who Wants to Live Forever and Flash, and co-wrote others.

After the death of frontman Freddie Mercury in 1991, the band continued with new singer Adam Lambert.

In addition to his musical career, May is known for his animal rights activism and earned a PhD in astrophysics in 2007, 36 years after abandoning his thesis when the band took off.

He is married to former EastEnders actress Anita Dobson.