Gretta Ray Opens Up On Diagnosis With Rare Heart Condition: ‘I’m Processing The Trauma’

A few weeks after Gretta Ray revealed her sudden hospitalisation in London, she’s now given fans a substantial update on her condition and recovery.

In a new post shared on social media, the Melbourne-native artist explained she’s been diagnosed with infective endocarditis, “a severe infection in the heart that for me, caused a multitude of distressing repercussions”. She went on to explain that the situation “happened very suddenly and frighteningly”, which led to a formal diagnosis taking longer than usual to materialise.

“Nonetheless,” Ray continued, “I am so, so lucky that I caught it early, and landed in such a great hospital here in London that took amazing care of me. I was then transferred to a second hospital – one that is famous for dealing with this particular disease.”

As a result of the diagnosis, Ray has cancelled all of her planned tour dates for the remainder of 2024, noting in her post that she did so “to allow me the best chance of making a full discovery”. She went on to say how the rare disease has taken a significant toll on her heart, which means “that at some stage I will need to undergo surgery”.

Ray said of the journey thus far: “It’s been a week since I finished a long course of intravenous antibiotics, and two weeks since I was discharged from hospital. Due to the fact that I am stable, the doctors have encouraged me to spend time regaining some strength and immunity outside of hospital.

While I’m still dealing with some complications, it’s already been healing being back out in the world. I just take it one day at a time (my mum is also still in London with me).”

In closing, Ray promised fans she would share more about her journey “when the time is right”, but for now is focussed on “processing the trauma and taking things slowly”. She thanked her fans for their “kind and thoughtful messages and comments”, and joked, “Can you believe I wrote a song about being a heartbreak baby and now I actually have a physically broken heart? Life is crazy. And so precious.”

sending all my love to you from london, and we’ll speak soon. 🫀 x pic.twitter.com/vtjYmDU2ha

— Gretta Ray (@grettaray) July 30, 2024

Ray first spoke of her medical complications earlier in July, revealing she’d been admitted to the ER shortly after she arrived in London remained in hospital for five weeks. At the time, she wrote imploring fans that “if you are ever feeling unsettlingly sick, in unexpected sudden pain, or you just know that something is wrong, make sure you listen to that gut feeling and get seen to as soon as you can”.

Back in March, Ray released the single Roses as a “love letter to London”  It came as part of a deluxe edition for her second album Positive Spin, which The Music spotlighted as one of the best Australian albums of 2023; we praised it as “a bright and bubbly soundtrack for a cultural moment that has been everything but”.

Ray said upon the album’s initial release last August: “Songwriting is so therapeutic, and my way of moving through my emotions has been to put a positive spin on my experiences.” She was later nominated for the 2023 Australian Music Prize.