(Photo by Chance Yeh/Getty Images)
It’s been nearly two years since the hip-hop legend, Kurtis blow went under the knife and had a successful heart transplant. Now’s he celebrating life every day and rejoicing he’s still alive and well
A statement issued to The Washington Informer from his wife, Shirley Walker, reads: “We give all glory to God for the perfect heart and transplant. He is out of surgery. Keep the prayers and praises up. God does all things well.”
This most recent surgery wasn’t Kurtis’ first time battling with a heart health issue.
Less than a week after undergoing heart surgery to repair his aortic artery nearly two years ago, the hip-hop pioneer went into emergency surgery.
Kurtis, whose birth name is Kurtis Walker, was the first commercially successful rapper who brought us hits like “The Breaks”, “Basketball” and “Christmas Rapping” is well-respected in the hip-hop community and has been receiving loads of prayer and well wishes since his latest heart attack.
(Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
“Kurtis got a bad CT. The aorta has dissected and it looks like he needs to go back to surgery,” a statement from Kurtis’ wife said. “He’s back in ICU and they’re discussing surgery immediately. Emergency open-heart surgery.”
It was just the week before when Kurtis announced he was “preparing for an aortic artery repair procedure.” It was supposed to “stabilize the artery from further damage caused by the hematoma I contacted from my recent travels to China,” he wrote.
He followed that up with a post saying that his surgery was “a tremendous success” and we’re glad that this current 2020 procedure was a success as well.
A heart transplant replaces the patient’s heart with a donor heart. In Kurtis’ case, doctors would remove the patient’s heart by transecting the aorta, the main pulmonary artery and the superior and inferior vena cavae, and dividing the left atrium, leaving the back wall of the left atrium with the pulmonary vein openings in place.
The surgeon connects the donor heart by sewing together the recipient and donor vena cavae, aorta, pulmonary artery and left atrium. In patients with congenital heart disease, the surgeon may simultaneously transplant the lungs and the heart.
While it’s unclear who Kurtis’ donor is, the donor heart is matched to the recipient by blood type and body size.
As the heart transplant recipient, you must take medications to prevent his or her immune system from rejecting the new heart.
These drugs are called immunosuppressive medication. Your medical team will balance the amount of immunosuppressive medication you need to prevent rejection of your new heart with the risk of side effects, which include infection or cancer.
(Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images for Art For Life Gala)
A transplant heart can help you lead a more active, fulfilling life, but there may be times when additional surgery is required.
For instance, if the rhythm of your transplant heart becomes slow, you may need to have a pacemaker.
Rarely, the tricuspid valve can become damaged by the endomyocardial biopsy procedure; if that happens it will need to be repaired or replaced.
Patients with congenital heart disease who have had a coarctation repair or problems with narrow or small pulmonary arteries may need surgery or interventional catheterization after the transplant to increase the size of these areas.
Sometimes, a transplanted heart may fail because of rejection, damage to the heart cells or coronary arteries of the heart, which leads to heart failure.
If this happens, doctors can sometimes transplant another heart.
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