Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain was paralysed on one side after stroke
Iron Maiden drummer Nicko McBrain has revealed he suffered a stroke which left him paralysed on one side of his body.
McBrain has been touring with the band since May, but admitted he’s still not fully recovered from the health scare and not playing to the fullest of his abilities. “I unfortunately haven’t been able to give you lot 100% of my performance,” he apologetically told fans in a statement.
Elaborating on the incident, McBrain said it was a transient ischemic attack, noting it was a “minor one, referred to as a TIA”. The drummer said he was “paralyzed on my right side from my shoulder on down. Of course, I was very worried that my career was over but with the love and support from my wife, Rebecca and family, my doctors, especially Julie my OT [occupational therapist], and my Maiden family I was able to bounce back to somewhere near 70% recovered.”
After ten weeks of intense therapy, McBrain was able to begin rehearsing for the current run of tour dates with Iron Maiden. “I feel it’s important to let you know about this now instead of earlier, as I was mainly concerned with doing my job and concentrating on getting back to 100% fitness,” he said.
McBrain continued: “I’m not there yet, but by the grace of God I’m getting better and stronger as the weeks go by. Thank you all for a most wonderful and magical tour so far, you have all been so amazing.”
Meanwhile, Iron Maiden’s manager Rod Smallwood said in an additional statement: “The rest of the band and I think that what Nicko has been able to achieve since his stroke shows incredible belief and willpower, and we are all very proud of him.”
He continued: “With this new and musically very complex set to learn ahead of him, he just got his head down and concentrated on recovery. We honestly did not know if he would be able to play a whole show until band rehearsals started in May and there was just so much support for him from the band and then genuine relief for all when we saw he was going to be able to do it.”
Watch the video from McBrain below.
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