George Michael assures fans he’s at the road to recovery after tormented by pneumonia
The 48-year-old singer, who were in Austria being treated for pneumonia, admitted he was still feeling weak following the illness, and said it have been ‘touch and go’ whether he would survive.
Michael, who wore a shawl and sunglasses as he spoke to the clicking outside his home in Highgate, thanked everyone for his or her support.
‘It was touch and go’: George Michael revealed in a press release that he’s at the road to recovery following a significant bout of pneumonia
Asked how he was feeling, Michael – who was supported throughout his ordeal by his boyfriend Fadi Fawaz, ex-partner Kenny Goss and 75-year-old father Kyriacos Panayiotou and older sisters Melanie and Yioda – said: ‘i think amazing. I mean, I’m very weak but I feel amazing.
‘I got streptagotta-something – it was a sort of pneumonia they usually basically spent three weeks keeping me alive.
I don’t need to take you thru it all because a number of it i need to guard my family from, nevertheless it was by far the worst month of my life.
Emotional: Michael gave the look to be struggling to hang back his tears at points in the course of the press conference
Operation: Michael also revealed he had had a tracheotomy during his time within the Austrian hospital
‘But I’m incredibly fortunate to be here
and incredibly fortunate to have picked up this bug where I did because
apparently the hospital in Austria that they rushed me to was the smartest
place on the planet i may were to handle pneumonia.
Wrapped up: The singer kept his throat hidden under a checked scarf
‘So i must believe that someone believes I’ve still got some work to do here.’
Asked what kept him dealing with his illness, Michael replied: ‘My family, and the idea of the entire people I still must play to.
‘The fact i have been so lucky and the truth that I still have plenty to live for – i’ve this amazing, amazing life and if I wasn’t spiritual enough before the last 4 or 5 weeks then I certainly am now.’
Michael also revealed he had had tracheotomy, a procedure which involves making an incision within the trachea to open up the airways, during his time on the AKH clinic in Vienna, Austria.
He said:’I'd say it was touch and go
for several weeks. We played it down because i did not like to worry
my fans an excessive amount of – I’m sorry i could not contact them prior to now but I
wasn’t in any state to take action.’
When
asked by journalists what his plan is now, Michael struggled to hang
back tears as he replied: ‘The plan is to play to each person that had a
ticket to work out me, and that i wish to play one more show for the
doctors in Austria who saved my life, because I actually have spent the last 10
days thanking people for saving my life – and that is the reason not something I
have needed to do before.
‘I really from the base of my heart thank everyone for sending messages, and everybody in that ICU unit who saved my life.’
Thankful: Michael also revealed he can be performing a unique one-off concert to assert thanks to the doctors on the AKH hospital in Vienna
Cancelled: The singer’s tour was postponed last month when he was struck down with pneumonia
As he made his long ago inside his home, Michael was asked if the illness had made him reassess things, to which he replied: ‘Yes, definitely – I’m a brand new man.’
