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Max George reflects on his recent hospitalization for problems with his heart.
“The first night I wrote the will, I thought I was going to die,” George, 36, said on Saturday 11. Sun.
The Wanted frontman he recalled waking up on December 11, 2024 with cold blue hands while at his mother’s.
“I didn’t feel like myself for a few days, I started to feel a bit rough,” George said. “I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was pretty lethargic and stuff, trying to get out of bed. But I didn’t think it was anything serious.”
He continued: “Luckily I went to my mum’s to stay and I woke up and I remember looking at my hands and they were blue and my arms were gray in color and I was cold. I was struggling to even sit up in bed. “
When George’s mother saw him, she gasped and called a doctor. While George was being checked and sent home, his mother continued to plead for help.
“At this point I had a panicky feeling, but I was also absolutely devastated,” he said. “I couldn’t move my arms and the worst feeling was that I felt like my throat was tightening. It felt like someone had their arms around my neck. Thank God I stayed with my mom – she saved my life.
The doctors informed George that something was wrong with the lower part of his heart and he would need a pacemaker.
“For some reason the rhythm is way off and the signal doesn’t seem to be getting from the upper chamber of your heart to the lower part, the part that pumps blood around your body,” he recalled the doctors telling him. “I was in complete shock.
George called the experience “truly terrifying” and noted that it was “definitely not where I thought I’d be at 36”.
“I was up all night feeling a tightness in my throat, really trying to move and really deep, slow breathing,” he said. “There was nothing they could do to stop it. I could have lived maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months, but it could have been a few hours. We didn’t know.”
Two days after being admitted to the hospital, George’s heart rate dropped to 26 beats per minute.
“Friday 13 December was the worst day I’ve had there,” he said. “My heart rate and my blood pressure dropped at the same time, and that was the biggest concern.”
He continued: “Consultants were not on hand to operate in an emergency. It was pretty close that night, I really felt like my throat was closing and that’s when the panic really kicked in. I felt like I was dying. It was the worst, I felt emotional.”
On December 15, George was taken by ambulance to the hospital where he underwent a CT scan. He got a pacemaker three days later with his partner Maisie Smith at his side as he became aware of his surroundings.
“My heart was pounding then too. My heart rate started to skyrocket. So I remember my legs were tingling because I think the blood started pumping properly,” he said.
He continued, “I was like, ‘Holy shit, I feel alive again,’ like it was a really nice feeling. It was so hard to be away from Maisie, but she climbed onto the bed, apparently on the other side of my chest to my operating room, and laid her head on top of me. We just cuddled for a few hours while I talked about football and acted normal about it. I felt butterflies next to her again.”