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Max George to undergo biopsy as health issues continue

Musician revealed the latest update as doctors work to discover the cause of his heart problems

Roisin O'Connor
Monday 13 January 2025 21:59 EST
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Max George describes 'flicking feeling' in his chest after heart surgery

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The Wanted singer Max George has shared that doctors are investigating enlarged lymph nodes in his lungs, in the latest update on his ongoing health ordeal.

The pop star has been candid with fans after undergoing heart surgery just before Christmas, when he had a pacemaker installed.

He was admitted to hospital after feeling unwell in December, at which point doctors discovered a “block”, meaning his heart was beating with an abnormal rhythm.

After the pacemaker was fitted, George told fans that he was experiencing a strange “flicking” sensation, as he appealed for advice from anyone who had gone through similar.

George, 36, has since told The Sun on Sunday that he will be given a biopsy to try and get to the root of the problem.

“This could be a sign of what caused my heart problems,” he said of the enlarged lymph nodes in his lungs.

“I’ve got to have a lung biopsy in a couple of weeks. It sounds pretty gnarly. It might tell us what the cause was.”

In the same interview, George confessed that he’d feared the recent Christmas could be his last, so had gone overboard on gifts for his loved ones.

“I thought it would be my last Christmas so I spent so much money,” he said, revealing he’d bought art for his girlfriend, 23-year-old EastEnders actor Maisie Smith.

The operation to have his pacemaker installed took around two and a half hours, George told fans in an Instagram post last month, alongside a photo of the new scar above his heart.

“The main issue [was] some of my veins had collapsed where the wires were meant to go… But the hospital surgeons, doctors and nurses at the NHS have been incredible,” he said. “I owe everything to them.”

He also thanked surgeons for putting his pacemaker under “a very special tattoo of mine... So I’m sure it’s being looked after.”

The tattoo in question is the date 04.08.1988, the birthdate of his late bandmate Tom Parker, who died aged 33 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

George is due to perform with The Wanted at Manchester Cathedral on Thursday 27 February.

“I can’t wait to get on stage again,” he told The Sun on Sunday. “I feel like an old man, but every day I feel a little bit stronger.”

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