Busted star James Bourne reveals he is having ‘major surgery’ to ‘extend his life’ as he shares worrying health update six months after quitting the band’s tour

Detainee star James Bourne has revealed he has undergone ‘major surgery’ to ‘extend his life’, sharing a worrying health condition six months after leaving the band’s tour.

James, 42, was forced to leave the Busted vs McFly tour, which started in Birmingham in September, just one day before, with his bandmates describing him as ‘really ill’.

Now, in a worrying update, James has shared that he is preparing to undergo ‘major surgery to extend my life’ but insists ‘there is hope’.

James, who rose to fame with bandmates Charlie Simpson and Matt Willis in 2000, wrote on his Instagram Story on Saturday: ‘I realize it’s been about six months since my last post.

‘I have plans to have major surgery that will prolong my life and get me well enough to get back to doing what I love most: touring and making music.

‘It really sucks to be out of the game. But there is hope!’

James, 42, was forced to leave his Busted vs McFly tour, which started in Birmingham in September, just one day before, with his bandmates describing him as ‘really ill’.

When Busted took to the stage at the first show of the tour last month, Matt Willis said: ‘Okay, you may have noticed that our best friend isn’t here tonight.

‘James Bourne is really sick and we love and miss him.

‘This is the first show we’ve played without him, and he really is. But we will do our best. ‘Health is wealth.’

James announced in his statement that he had to quit the tour due to health reasons.

He wrote on Instagram: ‘The VS tour starts tomorrow night in Birmingham and I’m as excited for this tour to start as I’ve felt all year.

‘I’m really sorry to say that it’s become clear over the last 8 days that I’m not healthy enough to play these shows 🙁

‘There is still a lot of information I don’t have about my condition, but my bandmates, management and I agree that I should focus on medical matters for now.

‘Hopefully I can be in a position to go further back. It will still be an amazing show and I will miss being there! See you soon.’

Busted and McFly reunited for a joint head-to-head tour throughout September, October and November.

Busted’s James, Charlie and Matt said at the time of the announcement: ‘The whole tour is about finding out who is the better band. The fans can decide.

‘They can come and support their group and change their minds. It will be a fight to the death.’

Taking to Instagram on Saturday, James wrote: ‘I realize it’s been about six months since I last posted.’

James (pictured) announced in a statement that he had to leave the tour due to mysterious health reasons

James, who announced he was quitting the tour in September, wrote on Instagram: ‘The VS tour starts in Birmingham tomorrow night and I’m just as excited for this tour to start as I’ve been all year.’

Matt continued: ‘It’s been a long time since this tour. The fans wanted it. ‘There’s a huge shift in fan bases but secretly I think everyone loves Busted better.’

McFly, meanwhile, consists of Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter.

Charlie, whose hits include Crashed The Wedding and You Said No with Busted, explained: ‘[McBusted] It was something different. This is a lot, we are doing this as two different groups.

‘The way we prepare the show is different from a normal show. ‘This isn’t a co-headline tour and there will be some surprises along the way that people haven’t really seen before.’

McFly has achieved 18 consecutive UK top 20 singles, seven of which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. They also won the 2005 Brit Award for Best British Pop Artist.

Southend-on-Sea’s Busted, meanwhile, have enjoyed four UK number one singles, won two Brit Awards and sold more than five million albums worldwide.

In 2013, the two bands merged to become a six-piece pop-punk supergroup called McBusted, though without lead vocalist and guitarist Charlie, who wanted to focus on his rock band Fightstar and his solo career.