stricken pop star Max George has told how he typed his will on his phone in hospital because he was afraid he was going to die.
The Wanted singer, 36, was rushed to A&E last month and underwent life-saving pacemaker surgery in Manchester.
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Max George says his mum Babs saved his life after she helped him with emergency treatment for a heart conditionCredit: PP.
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The Wanted singer was rushed to A&E before undergoing vital heart pacemaker surgery
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Max, above with actress girlfriend Maisie Smith, wrote his will on his iPhone after he feared he was going to dieCredit: Getty
Max says his mum Babs saved his life after she helped him with emergency treatment for a heart condition.
In his first interview since the terrifying ordeal, Max says he was afraid he was going to die in hospital so he wrote his will on his iPhone.
He also says the first person he saw after the three-hour operation was actress girlfriend Maisie Smith, saying: “My pulse started racing. I felt alive again.”
He also spoke of seeing the surgeon’s “bloody” hands during an operation last month.
Max’s medical drama began when he woke up freezing with blue hands on December 11.
At the time, he was staying with his mum Babs, 63, at her home in Manchester after returning from a month-long tour of the US.
He recalled: “I didn’t feel well for a few days, I started to feel a bit rough.
“I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was quite lethargic and so, I struggled to get out of bed. But I didn’t think it was anything serious.
“Luckily I went to my mum’s place to stay and I woke up and I remember looking at my hands and they were blue and my hands were gray and I was cold. I was struggling to even sit up in bed.”
‘Mom walked in the door and gasped’
Max managed to drag himself downstairs to where his mother, who works in healthcare, was holding a blood pressure monitor.
He said: “My blood pressure was quite low and so was my heart rate, so I realized, ‘Something’s wrong here.’
“When I did, my mom came through the door and she was gasping. She said, ‘What’s wrong? You’re blue. I need to call the doctor right away.'”
Max George reveals return to hospital after experiencing ‘fluttering’ in his chest following pacemaker surgery
Babs drove Max to their GP, where he had a check-up, but was then sent home.
Undeterred, she insisted on calling a doctor friend, who told him to go straight to the ER.
He said: “At this point I had a feeling of panic but I was also completely exhausted.
“I couldn’t move my arms, and the worst feeling was that my throat was closing.
“I felt like someone had their hands around my neck.
“Thank God I stayed at my mum’s house – she saved my life.”
Doctors took Max’s pulse at the hospital before he was wheeled to the cardiology ward, where he received the shocking news.
I remember looking at my hands and they were blue and my hands were gray and I was cold
Max George
He said: “The doctors asked me if I had heard of a pacemaker because they thought I would need one.
“They said, ‘There’s something wrong with the bottom of your heart.
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Thank God, I stayed at my mother’s house – she saved my life, says MaxCredit: Eroteme
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The star, here with his Wanted bandmates, credits his mum with saving his lifeCredit: Getty
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The first person the singer saw after the three-hour operation was Maisie
“For some reason the rhythm is out of whack 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.’ I was in complete shock.”
Max then broke the fantastic news on WhatsApp to Maisie, who was 300 miles away in Kent preparing to go on stage in a pantomime.
He told how they made the decision for her to continue playing Belle in Beauty and the Beast.
Max said: “I was in the right place and, as hard as it was that she wasn’t around and her head was spinning, it was better for her to focus on her work. I had my family there.
“It was really scary, all kinds of things go through your head, and it’s certainly not where I thought I’d be at 36 years old.
“I was up all night, my throat felt tight, I was really struggling to move and I was breathing really deeply, slowly.
“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.
“I could only live as that being in the state I was in. I would be bedridden. I couldn’t walk.”
The former Strictly star revealed he was the youngest on the ward by at least 30 years and feared he was going to die.
So he left instructions on his phone about what to do with his possessions in case he didn’t make it. He said: “That first night when I wrote my will, I thought I was going to die.
Thank God, I stayed with my mom – she saved my life
Max George
“If I could go from being absolutely on top of the world to being told ‘the bottom half of your heart isn’t working,’ I kept thinking in my head, ‘Well, what if the top half stopped working overnight?’
“When they tell you that, you really understand what your responsibilities are. I have a partner, Maisie, I have a family.
“I have two little nephews and all these things really come to the fore. I was in the heart ward with six older people, I was at least 30 years younger than them.”
Then, two days after he was admitted to the hospital, Max’s heart rate dropped to just 26 beats per minute — compared to a normal reading of 60-100.
Max said: “Friday 13th December was the worst day I had there. My heart rate and blood pressure dropped at the same time and that was the biggest concern.
“Consultants were not present to perform emergency surgery.
“It was pretty close that night, it felt like my throat was closing and that’s when the panic really started. I felt like I was dying. It was the worst, I felt emotional.”
On December 15, Max was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital for a CT scan.
He said: “It was so cold and it took an hour and a half. So by the time I got out I couldn’t move. I looked like that scene from ET, where he’s lying in the river.
“I could see myself in the reflection of the machine. My hands were blue. They had to transfer me in an ambulance. I was so cold, I needed blankets, and my mom brought me an electric blanket and small hand warmers.
“That was really hard, because I just couldn’t move my arm. I kept thinking if there was an accident in the ambulance, I was freaked out.”
To his relief, Max’s pacemaker surgery was finally scheduled for December 18 — exactly one week after he was admitted to the hospital.
He recalled: “I felt positive when they decided that because at least we made a decision.
“Now we’ve been working on something. I’ve been absolutely buzzed. You miss the little things like being able to go to the toilet and shower on your own. It sounds like nothing, but after a week it’s a lot.
“My mum brought me a picture of Maisie and Albert, my bulldog, to have on my bedside table and a picture of my Nan, who is 94 years old. That helped me keep going.”
Max’s operation lasted three hours, but was complicated by a collapsed vein caused by his condition.
The first night I wrote my will, I thought I was going to die
Max George
Although he was conscious, he was heavily sedated with the drug Midazolam, and he witnessed gruesome scenes.
He said: “The operation was quite mental. It was a really strange experience.
“The main problem they had when they were opening me up and trying to put the electrodes in was that a lot of my veins were collapsing because my heart rate was so low and I was so dehydrated the whole time. I could feel something going on but no a lot.
“I could see the surgeon through the window in a sheet over his head and I could see his frustrated expression.
“It’s sickening, but I’d look at him and when he’d pull his hands back, his gloves would just be covered in blood, and I remember thinking, ‘Oh, my God!’ It was morbid and I was singing by myself, but when they started, I was excited.
“Finally they got the cables into my veins, but then they had to get a signal from a technician with an iPad. “The surgeon asked if the pacemaker was working. “But the technician said, ‘No signal.’
“At that point I started thinking, ‘What’s going to happen now? Why is there no signal?'”
Eventually the pacemaker worked. And as Max began to focus on his surroundings, he was delighted to see Maisie, who had abandoned her panto duties and scurried north.
He said: “The first face I saw was Maisie’s and I remember it was very beautiful — it was like I felt like a real person for the first time and I had a heart.
“At that time I also had a regular heartbeat. My pulse started to quicken. So I remember feeling my feet tingle, because I think obviously the blood started pumping properly.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god, I feel alive again,’ like it’s 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 from my surgery, and put her head down on top of me.
“We just cuddled for a few hours while I talked about football and we treated it as normal. I felt butterflies next to her again.”
‘Listening to other people’s stories is inspiring’
Man City fan Max decided to go public with his ordeal by posting a video for fans from the hospital on his social media.
And he was delighted to communicate with other people who had similar conditions.
He said: “As well as watching Manchester City in hospital, I spent a lot of time on social media trying to find other people who had been through it.
“It was amazing to do that, because hearing other people’s stories and what they do is inspiring.
“And people who have much worse heart problems than I do, who are doing so well. I already have a new community of people I talk to.
“The nurses on the ward were amazing, because they were there for me the whole time.
“One of them used to take her daughter to see The Wanted a lot so it was nice to talk to her, just to have a bit of normalcy and talk about the things I like to do.
“They kept trying to calm my nerves and said that I was in the right place if something happened. I received amazing care and I am very grateful.”
Max was discharged from hospital on December 23 and is now recovering at his £1.5m home in Manchester and enjoying walks with Albert.
- FOR more information and support about heart disease, visit the British Heart Foundation Charity at www.bhf.org.uk or call 0808 802 1234.
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The former Strictly star, above with pro partner Dianne Buswell, revealed he is the youngest in the department by at least 30 yearsCredit: PA
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He left instructions on his phone about what to do with his possessions in case he didn’t survive the vital operation
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Max is now recovering at his home in ManchesterCredit: PP.
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