Brian May now in “stabilised” condition following stroke
Earlier in the year, Queen guitarist Brian May revealed he had suffered a minor stroke. Since then, the songwriter’s health and well-being have been shrouded in mystery. Now, months on from the initial incident in May, the guitarist’s wife, Anita Dobson, has provided an update on his health.
Originally, May took to social media back in September to break the news of his health issues. Following the incident, the songwriter had been unable to lift his or use his arm, rendering him unable to perform basic household tasks, let alone play an instrument. In fact, one of the first things May told fans in his September update was, “The good news is that I can play guitar after the events of the last few days.”
Nevertheless, a stroke takes a significant period of time to fully recover from. According to Dobson, her husband is “much better now,” telling The Mirror, “he’s stabilised now, which is brilliant. ‘I just hope we don’t have any more reoccurrences. He’s got the use of that arm, which was a bit of a challenge, back now.”
Continuing, the actor shared, “So, yeah, he’s good to go now. He’s playing the piano quite a lot in the house. He likes a lot of Beethoven. I love it – the piano in the house is really, just very relaxing.” It seems as though May cannot stay away from music and instruments for any extended period of time, even in the face of a major health scare.
“He didn’t actually try [to play an instrument] until after he’d recovered quite a bit”, Dobson explained. “And then he very slowly started to pick up an acoustic guitar and gradually just exercise the muscles. And it very quickly came back. He’s just retraining the messages from your brain to that arm that it’s actually okay to do what it used to do. It was scary.”
May’s wife further added, “And also being a genius for someone like that. His brain’s overloaded, that’s what it is. He’s too clever for his own good.”
At the time of the initial news, May spoke of how the stroke had left him “grounded” and unable to drive or travel for fear of raising his heart rate. Now, though, he and Dobson – who have been married since the year 2000 – plan to travel to Lapland over the festive season, a thankfully calm end to what must have been a fairly stressful year.
What exactly is a stroke?
A stroke, according to the NHS, occurs when blood flow to parts of a person’s brain is disrupted. As a result, the condition can cause speech, movement, or cognition in general. Symptoms of a stroke can include the loss of movement in a person’s arms, which May suffered. Other symptoms include slurred speech and a drooping face.
There is no set recovery time for a stroke, as every incident is different depending on a myriad of factors. Some minor strokes may be resolved in a matter of days, while others may take years to fully recover. For May, the “minor stroke” he experienced seems to have required multiple months of recovery time, though it seems he is now back to normal, for the most part.
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