George Michael: I've gotta have faith

Fighting back tears, singer George Michael appeared outside his London home on Friday to acknowledge that he had nearly died during his month-long battle with pneumonia. He said it had been "touch and go" while he was in the intensive care unit of a Vienna hospital battling an extremely dangerous form of pneumonia but that his representatives had "played down" to avoid alarming his fans. "They spent three weeks keeping me alive basically," said the singer, who appeared to have lost weight during his ordeal. "I don't want to take you through all of it because some of it I want to protect my family from and I'm sure I'll get it all written down, but it was by far the worst month of my life." He seemed short of breath and at times had trouble speaking during his 10-minute appearance. "I'm very weak but I feel amazing," the pop star said, wearing a grey overcoat and scarf as he stood in front of a decorated Christmas tree outside his imposing red brick home. The singer behind hits such as Careless Whisper, Faith and Father Figure said the experience would make him more spiritual and appreciative of his life. "I have an amazing, amazing life and if I wasn't spiritual enough before the last four five weeks then I certainly am now," he said. Heartfelt thanks Michael seemed overcome with emotion as he expressed gratitude for being alive and thanked the medical staff in Vienna for taking such good care of him. "I really, really, really, really, from the bottom of my heart, thank everybody who sent messages and everybody in that IC unit that made sure I'm still here today." Michael did not provide many medical details about his illness, which forced him to cancel an extensive European tour. He spoke about having "woken up" 10 days ago, implying that he had been in a coma. "I spent the last 10 days since I woke up literally thanking people for saving my life which is something I have never had to do before and never want to do again," he said. Michael, 48, vowed to resume his career and perform for everyone who had a ticket for his cancelled shows. He also said he wants to play one show for the doctors who worked so hard to keep him alive. "I'm incredibly, incredibly fortunate to be here and incredibly fortunate to have picked up this bug where I did because apparently the hospital in Austria that they rushed me to was absolutely the best place in the world I could have been to deal with pneumonia, so I have to believe that somebody thinks I've still got some work to do here," Michael said.