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Update: according to all Hip Hop as of this morning March 2 2010.. Guru Surgery Successful; Full Recovery Expected- click here for more info..and remeber prayer works http://bit.ly/bT8VeC
It’s hard to take in the news about Guru (Keith Elam) suffering from a heart attack and slipping into a coma while still in his 40s and not have in the backdrop all these other people both public and private who have dropped dead to sudden heart attacks, having seizures, strokes etc at a young age.. Before I get to all that, lemme let folks know whats been passed along from Guru’s former partner DJ Premier…
He noted that yesterday Guru suffered a heart attack and later slipped into a coma and is scheduled to have surgery today. Craig G noted that Guru also had a stroke. In anycase none of this is good.. We wish Guru the best of luck in pulling through. We are keeping him in our prayers. But like I said its hard to simply isolate Guru’s health condition.
This year I lost two radio colleagues both in their early 50s to sudden heart attacks. Both Andrea Lewis and Gina Hotto were pillars in the activist community here in the Bay Area as well as radio hosts at KPFA. We lost another comrade Javad Jahi who did lots of work around the SF8 case who passed after getting the H1N1 flu which compounded the walking pneumonia he had.. Their deaths came within a couple of months of each others and left us shocked. It also made many of us take long hard looks at our lifestyles and lessen the stresses we constantly endure as people seeking social change in our communities.
This weekend we learned that actor Gary Coleman who is also in his 40s.. suffered a seizure.. Details are still sketchy. But its indicative of what is happening to way too many people. Two years two friends suffered minor strokes and one who completely shut down and was hospitalized over stress.. These were folks who had just hit their 40s.. My point here is that even though folks aren’t eating meat and not obese which I believe was the case with Guru doesn’t mean they are free of these types of health challenges..I have a friend who ran into Guru just two weeks ago and he was commenting on how he was feeling great and was in great health..I guess we can’t take any of this for granted..
Guru and Super producer Solar
Many of the folks I know don’t have health insurance and so they never get a check up and usually wind up going to the hospital when things are dire if they even do that.. And even if they do have health insurance, many of those policies don’t cover things like stress due to financial upheavals.. or stress from being pushed to the limit at your job.. or even just having tremendous insecurities about keeping their jobs.. All this adds up..
Not sure what else one can say except that we all had best start looking at health as a right and not a privilege.. Lets pray for Guru and lets pray for ourselves so that we can stay healthy..
Here’s an update from Guru’s partner Solar
“Guru is struggling with a serious health issue. And We appreciate all your love and well wishes. we continue to hold out hope that Guru will make a full recovery from this. And ask that his privacy on this matter be respected. Again Thank you for all your support through this trying time. (via @solar_7grand)” -Solar is Guru’s production partner
Here’s an interview I did with Guru a couple of years ago
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/25904/ pt1
http://www.swift.fm/mrdaveyd/song/25905/ pt2