The incident that almost cost him his life!

Brian May Talks Being Near Death After Suffering A "Small Heart Attack" During Recent Gardening Accident

On Sunday, Queen guitarist Brian May posted a video where he talked about having experienced recent health complications, including a heart attack. This is what he said!

Brian May is lucky to be alive after an injury he suffered ended up leading to a near-fatal heart attack! As Entertainment Tonight reports, May had previously mentioned being hospitalized after he'd ripped his gluteus maximus while gardening. However, the accident ended up almost costing him his life.

"I told you I had a ripped muscle," May shared in an Instagram video. "That was the way I was diagnosed and we thought it was like a bizarre gardening accident. I didn’t realize that was amusing, really. I kind of forgot anything to do with the bum people find amusing… but anyway, it turned out to be not really the case."

May said he felt like "someone was putting a screwdriver in my back"

May continued on with his story, saying how his ripped muscle led to excruciating pain. "Now a week later I’m still in agony. I mean, real agony. I wanted to jump at some points. I could not believe the pain," he revealed in the video. "And people were saying, ‘That’s not like a ripped muscle, you don’t get that amount of pain,’ so eventually I had another MRI."

That second MRI is what revealed May's condition was far more serious than he'd first anticipated. "But this time I had one of the lower spine and, sure enough, what did we discover but I had a compressed sciatic nerve, quite severely compressed, and that’s why I had this feeling that someone was putting a screwdriver in my back the whole time," he said.

"It was excruciating. So finally we started treating the thing for what it was. I’d been putting the ice packs in the wrong place for about 10 days."

May's heart attack was caused by congestion from several arteries

May said that even though his health has improved, there was yet another medical complication involved— one that led to his heart attack. "That’s one side of the story, and I’m a lot better now… But the rest of the story is a little more bizarre and a bit more shocking," he said.

"I thought I was a very healthy guy," May explained. "Everyone says, ‘You’ve got a great blood pressure, you’ve got a great heart rate’. And I keep fit, I bike, good diet, not too much fat." However, despite his healthy lifestyle choices, May found himself on the receiving end of a surprising medical result.

"I turned out to have three arteries that were congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart," he said. "Anyway, I had — in the middle of the whole saga of the painful backside — I had a small heart attack."

May says current health is good: "Please don't send me sympathies"

May said that when doctors gave him the choice between having an open heart surgery or having stents put in, he chose the latter. And as the Daily Mail mentions, May's post-surgery recovery seems to have been a success! "I walked out with a heart that is very strong now. So I think I'm in good shape for some time to come.... And if I'm not then I'll have another angiogram," May said.

"Anyway, I didn't die, I came out, and I would have been full of beans if it weren't for the leg. I'm very grateful that I now have a life to lead again. I was very near death because of this, but the pain that I had was from something very different. It's funny how these things work," he shared in the conclusion of the 7-minute long video.

"But I'm good. I'm here. And I'm ready to rock. Please don't send me sympathies, because I'm good. God bless." May also encouraged that people look after their own heart health by getting an angiogram if they're 60 years old or older.

Watch Queen guitarist Brian May talk about his bizarre medical experiences in the video he shared on Instagram here!