iron maidennicko mcbrainheavy metal
16:50 Sunday, 22 October 2023
Nicko McBrain recently revealed that he suffered a stroke back in January. The Iron Maiden drum legend shared the following via social media:
"Hello Boys and Girls, I hope this message finds you all well!
The reason I'm writing to you all today is to let you know of a very serious health problem that I have been through. In January I had a stroke, thank the Lord it was a minor one referred to as a TIA. It left me 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 10 weeks of intense therapy it was almost time to start rehearsals for our tour. 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. 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.
Well that's it from me. God bless you all, stay safe and well and I look forward to seeing you all somewhere in time."
Guesting on Trunk Nation, McBrain offered an update on his health, stating:
"I'd say I'm 85 to 90 percent back to strength, but I still have a little less dexterity with speed in my fingers. My fingers are the ones that... this is the last thing to strengthen up. But I had to change certain drum fills. Some fills that everybody knows me for on certain songs, I've had to improvise those at rehearsals to be able to actually play the songs. So now I'm starting to actually be able to kind of embrace it a bit more, and I can't do that live. I have to wait until we start doing some rehearsals again or whatever it is. I'm definitely getting stronger, and I've had great support from Rod (Smallwood / manager), the band, and all of the fans out there. They've shown me so much love, it's amazing."
Watch a video message from Nicko below:
