Brian May’s wife Anita Dobson shares major health update following Queen star’s stroke
Queen legend Sir Brian May has “stabilised” following a stroke he suffered in September, his wife Anita Dobson has revealed.
The 75-year-old actress shared the positive update about her husband’s health at the TRIC Christmas Lunch, where she was honoured as a Legend.
“He’s much better now, he’s stabilised now, which is brilliant,” Dobson said. “I just hope we don’t have any more reoccurrences.”
The 77-year-old guitarist has regained use of his affected arm and has returned to playing both piano and guitar at their home.
“He’s got the use of that arm, which was a bit of a challenge, back now. So, yeah, he’s good to go now,” Dobson confirmed.
May has particularly taken to playing Beethoven on the piano, which his wife describes as “very relaxing” in their household.
In September, May experienced a sudden and frightening health scare when he lost control of his left arm “out of the blue.”
The Queen guitarist was rushed to Frimley Hospital in Surrey by ambulance, complete with “blue lights flashing, the lot – very exciting,” as he later described it.
Following his admission to hospital, doctors diagnosed May as having suffered what he termed a “minor” stroke.
The incident left the musician temporarily unable to control one of his arms, a particularly concerning development for the legendary guitarist.
“It was scary,” Dobson recalled at the TRIC Christmas Lunch. “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.”
A week after what May described as a “health hiccup,” he was able to confirm that he could play guitar again.
Dobson revealed that May took a careful approach to his recovery, allowing substantial time before attempting to play music again.
“He didn’t actually try until after he’d recovered quite a bit,” she explained at the TRIC event.
The process began with gentle exercises using an acoustic guitar to rebuild his strength.
“And then he very slowly started to pick up an acoustic guitar and gradually just exercise the muscles. And it very quickly came back,” Dobson shared.
She explained that May’s recovery involved retraining the neural pathways between his brain and arm.
“He’s just retraining the messages from your brain to that arm, that it’s actually okay to do what it used to do,” she said.
The guitarist has now progressed to regularly playing both piano and guitar at home, showing significant improvement in his condition.
Initially, May was significantly restricted in his activities following the stroke.
“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,” he had explained at the time.
However, his condition has improved enough that doctors have now lifted these restrictions.
The guitarist and his wife are planning a festive trip to Lapland this month to “meet the elves” for Christmas.
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This marks a significant turnaround from when he was previously “grounded” by medical professionals.
The couple’s ability to travel again comes as welcome news, particularly as they recently celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary.
During their anniversary celebrations, May shared a poignant message: “Take care out there folks and Carpe Diem! Because tomorrow… who knows where the wind might blow.”
This health update follows May’s previous serious health scare in 2020, when he suffered a heart attack.
Initially believing it was just a gardening injury, the guitarist later revealed he “could have died” during that incident.
Following the 2020 heart attack, May had three stents fitted to keep his blocked arteries open.
Despite his recent stroke in September, the Queen guitarist requested fans not send him messages of sympathy.
“I really don’t want sympathy,” he stated. “Please don’t do that because it’ll clutter up my inbox and I hate that.”
May shares his life with Dobson and his three children from his previous marriage to Christine Mullen.
The couple’s enduring relationship has now reached its 24th year, marking another milestone in their journey together.