A top Los Angeles dancer was rushed to hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest and now needs a life saving heart transplant, his family have revealed.
Gbari Gilliam, 32, collapsed during rehearsals last week ahead of a show and had to be rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Doctors discovered he has a rare heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to a GoFundMe set up for the dancer.
“The medical team has informed the family that a heart transplant is now needed in order to save his life,” the message on the site read, labeling the situation as “very serious.
“Until a donor heart becomes available, he will need an artificial heart to sustain him, which will involve multiple procedures, extended hospital care, and a very costly transplant and recovery process.”
His condition is described as thickening of the walls of the heart, making it harder for the heart to pump blood, according to the Mayo Clinic.
A person can have it and not even know it, the site noted. Friends and loved ones opened up about Gilliam, saying he’s a very special person.
“He’s like the person you talk to when you need someone to talk to and you need someone to lean on,” Shantel Urina, Gilliam’s girlfriend and dance partner for six years, told NBC Los Angeles.
Choreographer and dancer Comfort Fedoke said if it was not for a nurse who happened to be close by when it happened her friend would have died.
“Luckily, someone was there, someone who just so happened to be a nurse,” she said.
Tuseda Graggs-Borden, Gilliam’s mother, added: “I believe she saved his life. If she had not been there, it’d be a whole different story.”
An earlier message on the fundraising site stated that Gilliam was fighting for his life after suffering a cardiac arrest.
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“This has been devastating and overwhelming for our entire family. As he receives critical medical care and support in the ICU, medical expenses, hospital bills, and recovery costs are quickly increasing.”
Gilliam graduated from UCLA in 2016 and has appeared on such shows as “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and Hollywood production company Tyler Perry productions, a post on his Instagram read.
There are numerous videos posted on his social media page of him dancing and clearly doing what he loves.
One of them was just posted on March 20th which showed him sitting at bench while showing off his fancy footwork.
Friends said the support they are seeing from the dance community and others has been overwhelming.
“Because he’s poured so much into other people, it’s really beautiful to see so many people pouring it back into him in this moment,” Urina said. “I feel like this is just a testament to the work he’s put into other people.”
Gilliam’s mother said she remains hopeful that her kind and sweet son will be back out on the dance floor soon.
“God’s plan seems to be working out, and I just believe that he’s going to be back out there, dancing his heart out, doing what he loves… Being that light. I’m looking forward to that.”
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