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Will Groves

"Out of the blue, I didn't have any control over this arm": Brian May reveals he's suffered a stroke that left him unable to use his left arm

Brian May.

Queen guitarist Sir Brian May has revealed that he has suffered a 'minor stroke'.

"I'm here to bring you some good news - the good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days," May, 77, says in the video, moving his fingers to prove the point.

I'm okay. Just doing what I'm told, which is basically nothing. I'm grounded

May continues, "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."

Sir Brian also reveals that he was temporarily unable to use his left arm - "Out of the blue, I didn't have any control over this arm" - but that a 'very exciting' ambulance journey to a local Surrey, UK, hospital led to the 'most fantastic care' from staff there.

"I didn't want to say anything at the time because I didn't want anything surrounding, you know. I really don't want sympathy," May continues.

"Please don't do that because it'll clutter up my inbox and I hate that."

"The good news is I'm okay. Just doing what I'm told, which is basically nothing. I'm grounded."

"I'm not allowed to go out - well, I'm not allowed to drive, not allowed to get on a plane, not allowed to raise the heart rate too high... but I'm good."

It's not Sir Brian's first health scare in recent years. In 2020 he also revealed he'd suffered a heart attack while recovering from a painful, gardening-induced muscle and back injury.

"It's not something that did me any harm," he said at the time. "It was about 40 minutes of pain in the chest and tightness, and that feeling in the arms and sweating."

"I was actually very near death [but] I didn't die. I came out and I would have been full of beans if it hadn't been for the leg."

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