Aussie rock icon Jimmy Barnes is currently undergoing emergency surgery, after a bacterial infection he’d been battling recently spread to his heart.
Sharing a statement on social media this morning, just hours before going under the knife for open heart surgery, the Cold Chisel frontman revealed the bad news to his fanbase.
“Obviously this is going to take me out of action for a while”
“Despite everyone’s best efforts the bacterial infection I’ve been battling over the last fortnight has apparently now spread to my heart,” Barnesy wrote.
“It’s infected an otherwise healthy valve that was replaced some years ago due to a congenital defect, so I’ll be getting open heart surgery over the next few hours to clear out this infection and put in a clean valve.”
The 67-year-old went on to thank his wife, doctors, nurses and all the fans who’ve sent him ‘get well soon’ messages since his bacterial pneumonia diagnosis.
Despite initially being given antibiotics to treat his condition and told his recovery would take about two days, Barnesy now says he’ll be out of action for live shows for the foreseeable future.
“Obviously this is going to take me out of action for a while,” he said. “I know lots of other people are battling even worse things but it still feels hugely frustrating. Just a few weeks ago I was the fittest I’ve been in decades!”
He added: “As you can hopefully appreciate, this has all happened very suddenly so it’s going to take a few days for everyone to figure out what’s going to be doable with my upcoming shows. I’m really sorry for all the inconvenience this will cause but please be patient while my team works hard to figure things out. A new plan will be announced as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile,
Barnesy’s son and TV presenter David Campbell told Nine his dad was in “great hands”.
“We feel confident in the doctors. He will make a great recovery,” he said. “He is frustrated for the fans who have been booking the up and coming shows.”
The rocker recently had to pull out of his By The C in Torquay show earlier this month because of the same issue, with Jon Stevens of Noiseworks filling in instead.
We’ll keep you up-to-date with any more info as it comes to hand.
Further Reading
Jimmy Barnes Cancels Rock The Boat Performance Due to Bacterial Pneumonia
