Jimmy Barnes’ brush with death and incredible recovery as he plans to return to the stage

Jimmy Barnes tells how a call from a fellow Aussie legend helped lift him during one of the toughest times of his life. Watch the exclusive interview.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

5 min read

February 11, 2024 - 2:17PM

News Corp Australia Network

Jimmy Barnes reveals touching phone call from John Farnham after his surgery

Music

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Exclusive: There was a moment before Jimmy Barnes had lifesaving open heart surgery in December when he told his wife Jane “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

As Barnes continues his recovery ahead of his return to the stage in late March, he reveals in this exclusive interview how a case of bacterial pneumonia became a fight for survival as a staph infection spread to his back and his heart.

“I was critical before they said they had to operate on my heart,” he said.

“There were moments there where I said to Jane ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it.’ I was so hot and in so much pain, labouring just to think.”

Jimmy and Jane Barnes finally returned to their beloved home on the river’s bend at Berrima in late December.

Australian rock legend Jimmy Barnes recovers at home in the NSW Southern Highlands after major surgery. Picture Sam Ruttyn

His recovery has been slow and steady, buoyed by not only his wife’s home-cooking but the overwhelming outpouring of support and well wishes from family, friends and fans.

One phone call immeasurably lifted his spirits. It was the first time he had heard the voice of his good mate John Farnham since his own surgery and treatment for mouth cancer in 2022.

“John rang me in hospital. It was so great,” Barnes said.
“He made a joke with me and we were laughing … I hadn’t heard his voice since he had surgery and he’s going ‘Ah, I just thought I’d call and I want to encourage you to get through’.

Jimmy Barnes has told of the call he received from fellow Aussie music legend John Farnham while he was in hospital. Picture Sam Ruttyn

“And I’m saying ‘yeah, I’ll be all right, I’ll be up doing a gig soon’.

“And then he said ‘Maybe we should redo When Something Is Wrong (With My Baby) and we could both wear hospital gowns.’

“It lifted my spirits so much to hear that he had battled through where he was. It was great to hear his voice as an old friend coz I was worried to death about him too,” he said.

“We’re tough people. We’re hard to kill.”

The life-threatening infection was discovered after he was admitted to a Sydney hospital on November 27 with bacterial pneumonia, just hours after performing at the Mushroom 50th anniversary concert and just as he was due to jump on a plane to Noumea to join the Rock The Boat cruise.

Blood test markers showed his condition was more serious than the lung infection, with a team of doctors and specialists brought on board to try to diagnose the source of his excruciating pain and fever.

“These markers which tell you if you’ve got an infection, for a normal person they should come back under five and dangerous is anything above 10 for most people,” Barnes said.

“My markers were at 400. They spent a few days trying to find where all (the infection) was.”

After a barrage of tests, doctors found an abscess on nerves in his spine caused by a staph infection lodging in scar tissue from a previous back operation.

Barnes battled a staph infection that spread to his heart and nearly killed him. Picture Sam Ruttyn

“At this point, I couldn’t get out of bed, I was in agony. And so they rushed me in there, did the back surgery and I was on heavy antibiotics,” he said.

But his blood marker levels only came down to 300. His medical team told him the staph infection had spread and they were now in a race against time to find where it had lodged in “foreign tissue.”

“Finally, they did a PET scan, the nuclear one with the dyes and stuff, and it came up. It was on my heart,” Barnes said.

“The last time I had heart surgery was 16 years ago to replace an aortic valve. But they couldn’t just replace the valve, they had to do open heart surgery to check everywhere around the heart.

“And that freaked me out because I know the pain of open heart surgery having been through it before.

“I went into surgery prepared for the worst. They told me there was a 20 per cent chance I might not come through the surgery.”

Jimmy and Jane Barnes on Christmas Day. Picture: Instagram

Barnes was in surgery on December 13 for six hours. His wife Jane and their family, who were the only ones who knew their patriarch was fighting for his life, feared the worst as the hours ticked by.

After opening him up, Barnes’ surgeon Dr Paul Jansz not only had to replace the valve but also 12 centimetres of his aorta, the “seat where the valve sits” and a leaking mitral valve.

The staph infection had wreaked a lot of damage but the good news was it hadn’t got into his heart muscle or surrounding arteries.

In a month he’s progressed from struggling to make it from his bed to the kitchen, from walking 300 metres up the road to now managing three kilometres a day.

He meditates daily and remains deeply grateful to the St Vincent’s Hospital specialists, surgeons and nurse who cared for him and the fans who continue to rally him back to health.

And there’s his love for family and friends who stepped up to fill the breach at his cancelled gigs, led by daughter Mahalia and son David Campbell and mates Jon Stevens, Chris Cheney, Daryl Braithwaite and Ian Moss.

Jimmy Barnes said John Farnham called him and lifted his spirits while he was critically ill.

Old friends John Farnham and Jimmy Barnes have both been seriously unwell. Picture: Facebook

Barnes jokes he’s in training for the rock Olympics, kicking off with his comeback to the stage at Bluesfest on March 31 to perform a one-off concert in celebration of the 30th anniversary of his Flesh and Wood album.

After that, there are three Red Hot Summer festival shows in April in the Hunter Valley, Launceston and Bendigo.

And in June, he embarks on a national Hell of a Time tour focusing on the Flesh and Wood record with his usual smattering of stories about life and facing death.

He wanted to call it the Flesh Wound tour but was shut down by his wife and team.

“I’m looking forward to getting out and playing rock shows with a new lease on life,” he said.

“I’m really healthy at the moment. I’m getting fit now. By the time I hit the stage, I’m going to be fit as a fiddle, healthy as a Mallee bull and so happy to be singing and seeing everyone again.

“I think they’re going to be better shows than I’ve done for years.”

Tickets are now on sale for Bluesfest and Red Hot Summer shows.

The Hell of A Time concerts go on sale from February 19 with all dates and ticket details via jimmybarnes.com