Jimmy Barnes shares devastating health update after infection: 'Bad news'

Jimmy Barnes has revealed he will undergo open heart surgery after the bacterial infection he has been fighting over the past two weeks spread to a heart valve.

Taking to social media on Wednesday morning, the Scottish-born rock musician shared a lengthy update with his fans about his health.

“Unfortunately I got some bad news late yesterday,” he wrote. “Despite everyone’s best efforts the bacterial infection I’ve been battling over the last fortnight has apparently now spread to my heart.

“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.”

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The ‘Working Class Man’ hitmaker went on to say that the surgery will take him “out of action for a while”, and the situation feels “hugely frustrating”.

“Just a few weeks ago I was the fittest I've been in decades!” he added.

“Anyway, 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.”

'Rest up legend'

Jimmy first revealed on November 28 that he was being treated for bacterial pneumonia and would be cancelling his appearance at the music festival Rock The Boat.

He shared a follow-up post a few days later saying he had to cancel his appearance at By The C in Torquay as he was still hospitalised in Sydney and shared a series of photos last week from his hospital bed.

Following Jimmy’s recent Instagram post, his followers flooded the comments with supportive messages.

“Rest up legend. Sending big love,” Sunrise’s Sam Mac wrote, while Julia Morris added, “Sending massive but not tight hugs for a speedy recovery”.

“Sending all our love Jimmy. I know having your beautiful Jane by your side will give you the superpowers you need to get through this. Take care,” Angela Bishop replied.

“Wishing you a speedy recovery, dear Jimmy,” Myf Warhurst shared, followed by Amanda Keller and Nat Barr who commented heart emojis.

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