Queen Guitarist Brian May Suffers Stroke, Leaving Him Without Use of His Arm

Legendary Queen guitarist Sir Brian May recently suffered a minor stroke that temporarily left him without use of his left arm. But while he's on strict doctor's orders, it sounds like the 77-year-old is already on the mend.

May gave his fans an update in a video message on his website on Wednesday, Sept. 4, however he started off with the good news.

"Good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days, and I say this because it was in some doubt because that little health hiccup that I mentioned happened about a week ago," he explained. "And what they called it was a minor stroke, and all of a sudden, out of the blue, I didn’t have any control over this arm. So it was a little scary."

May noted that he had "the most fantastic care and attention" from Frimley Hospital in Surrey just outside of London, and that the blue lights flashing had been very exciting. He said that he hadn't mentioned anything yet because he didn't want sympathy. "Please don't do that because it’ll clutter up my Inbox and I hate that," he quipped.

"So, good news is I’m okay. Just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing," he continued. "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."

May concluded his message by saying a few words about his recent BBC One documentary, Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me, about his decade-long campaign to stop badger culling in the UK, which is done to prevent the spread of tuberculosis in cattle. An avid animal rights activist, May has been raising awareness about fox hunting and the culling of badgers with his Save Me animal welfare organization, named after the 1980 hit Queen song he wrote.

"We had some great reactions from farmers particularly—also from wildlife people of course, because we’re very much in that corner still but the documentary was really about the farmers," he added. "It’s no surprise to me that we are not at odds at all with the farmers. We are at odds with the people who have been feeding them the wrong information."

In either case, it seems as though May will live to fight another day for his cause.