May was rushed to Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley, Surrey where he received “the most fantastic care and attention; blue lights flashing the lot, very exciting.”

Brian went on to say that he did not want to go public with his minor stroke at the time “because I didn’t want anything surrounding it. I really don’t want sympathy. Please don’t do that, because it’ll clutter up my inbox, and I hate that. The good news is I’m okay. I’m just doing what I’m told, which is basically nothing. I’m grounded, I’m not allowed to go out, drive, get on a plane, I’m not allowed to raise the heart rate too high. But I am good.”

May‘s stroke came four years after he had a “small” heart attack. At the time, he said was shocked to realize he wasn’t as healthy as he thought, and he was “very near death”. He discovered three arteries were “congested and in danger of blocking the supply of blood to my heart”, and subsequently had surgery to fit three stents — tiny tubes to hold open blocked arteries.

Four and a half years ago, May had to be hospitalized after he tore his buttocks “to shreds” while gardening. As a result, he developed severe sciatica and suffered what he later described as a “small heart attack” from the medication. May then had a bad reaction to his heart attack medication and nearly died. More recently, Brian underwent cataract eye surgery.

He later said that he believed that coronavirus may have played a role in his heart attack because of the way the virus thickened the blood. As a result, he said he was living a “ridiculously careful” life with actress wife Anita Dobson — whom he credited with saving his life.

“She was incredible,” he told the Daily Express back in 2020. “I couldn’t do anything and she just kind of nursed me, so I will forever be in her debt; she did an incredible job on me.”