Brian May is “incredibly grateful” to be alive after suffering a recent heart attack.
In a video posted to Instagram on Sunday (May 24), the 72-year-old Queen guitarist detailed the “saga” of events leading up to the heart attack, including a recent gardening accident that injured his buttock muscle.
May says he was experiencing excruciating pain following the gardening incident, which he initially blamed on shredding his gluteus maximus. But an MRI of his lower spine revealed that May actually had a compressed sciatic nerve.
But the story doesn’t end there. During the process of treating his pain and torn muscle, the musician discovered that he had a “small heart attack.”
“I thought I was a very healthy guy,” May says in the clip. “But I turned out to have three arteries that were congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart.”
May notes that three stents were successfully put in after his doctor drove him to the hospital.
Trending on Billboard
“I walked out with a heart that’s very strong now,” he says. “I was very near death because of this.”
The health scare has brought new wisdom to May, who has some words of advice for people approaching their “autumn” years.
“There are some lessons to be learned,” the guitarist says. “We’ve all got to really look at ourselves as we get to the autumn years, and what seems to be a very healthy heart may not be. I would get it checked from time to time.”
Watch the full clip below.