![\"Getty](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/e29e\/live\/77bfc510-bfbf-11ef-aff0-072ce821b6ab.jpg.webp\")
Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\nMax George, a member of boy band The Wanted, has revealed he has had a pacemaker fitted days after saying he would need surgery for a heart condition.<\/p>\n
He posted a photo of his scar showing the position of the small battery-powered device, which keeps the heart beating regularly, on Instagram. <\/p>\n
George said the surgeon had placed the pacemaker just below a “special tattoo” that says 04\/08\/1998, referring to the birthday of his late bandmate Tom Parker.<\/p>\n
Previously, the 36-year-old said he had been diagnosed with “a 2:1 block in my heart”, where the heart beats more slowly or with an abnormal rhythm<\/a> because of a problem with the electrical pulses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ten days ago George revealed he had been taken to hospital after feeling unwell and that is when issues with his heart were discovered.<\/p>\n On Saturday, George called his new pacemaker his “little friend” and described it as “the best Christmas present I could’ve ever wished for”.<\/p>\n The singer said the operation took around two and a half hours.<\/p>\n “The main issue being some of my veins had collapsed where the wires were meant to go… But the surgeons and nurses at the NHS have been incredible. I owe everything to them.”<\/p>\n He said the pacemaker’s position underneath his tattoo tribute to Tom Parker made him “sure it’s being looked after”.<\/p>\n George said he was undergoing a few more tests due to inflamed lymph nodes on his lungs but had been hopeful he would be home for Christmas.<\/p>\n He continued: “Time to rest and then tackle life full on once again.<\/p>\n “Thank you for all your support. It’s meant a hell of a lot to myself and my family.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The British Heart Foundation has said<\/a> an atrioventricular heart block is when the electrical impulses are delayed or blocked as they travel between the atria (the top chambers of the heart) and the ventricles (the bottom chambers).<\/p>\n Heart blocks are graded as first, second or third degree, depending on severity.<\/p>\n George rose to fame in the early 2010s, with bandmates Siva Kaneswaran, Nathan Sykes, Jay McGuiness and Tom Parker.<\/p>\n The Wanted announced a break in 2014 – and in 2022, George and Kaneswaran relaunched as a duo.<\/p>\n George also appeared in Strictly Come Dancing in 2020 where he first met his partner, actress Maisie Smith.<\/p>\n His bandmate Parker died from brain cancer<\/a>, aged 33, in March 2022.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n