Broadcaster Lisa Evers of FOX5NY said she had obtained a sworn medical affidavit from Vybz Kartel’s private doctor, endocrinologist Karen Phillips, which outlined that the dancehall star has been battling Graves’ disease for seven years and that despite being treated, it has not gone into remission.
Evers also revealed that the 47-year-old deejay has two heart conditions that are getting worse, and that, without surgery, “he could die.”
“Fighting for his life? Yes. It can be dangerous..we do not want to get a phone call to say because he was under this 24 (sic) this 23-hour lockdown and unable to breathe, that he succumbed to his illness,” Kartel's attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan warned during an interview with Evers on Tuesday.
Buchanan said he had visited the reputed “King of Dancehall” on Monday, May 29, and reported that he was not in great shape after being locked down for 23 hours a day over two alleged cell phone infractions within three days.
“Mr Palmer’s condition is life-threatening,” Buchanan said gravely.
“His face is actually swole (swollen) and as I said, one a di things is, he always wears glasses because the condition that he has causes his eyes to protrude.”
Kartel’s condition is allegedly exacerbated by a 23-hour prison lockdown placed on the deejay following the recent discovery of cell phones within his cell.
“He is in a cell, and if you can picture a brick oven because that’s how those cells are built, the ventilation is next to none,” Buchanan argued.
Graves’ disease can become fatal when it is left untreated. That’s because, with the disease, your immune system attacks your thyroid — a small, butterfly-shaped gland at the base of your neck.
According to medical resources, getting treatment and making the appropriate lifestyle changes will significantly improve your outcome and quality of life. Eating foods that have large amounts of iodine—such as kelp, dulse, or other kinds of seaweed—may cause or worsen hyperthyroidism.
The Summertime deejay has had many medical scares over the past decade, often necessitating trips to medical institutions such as the Kingston Public Hospital and the University Hospital of the West Indies.
