Popular Jamaican dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel is reportedly battling an autoimmune disorder known as Graves’ disease and two alleged heart conditions.
The condition of the 47-year-old incarcerated entertainer is said to be life-threatening.
According to Mayo Clinic, Graves’ disease is an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism).
Reports state that broadcaster Lisa Evers of FOX5NY obtained a sworn medical affidavit from the artiste’s private doctor, endocrinologist Karen Phillips, which outlined that Kartel has been battling Graves’ disease for seven years.
It is said that though he was being treated, it has not gone into remission.
Evers also shared that Kartel has two heart conditions that are worsening and that if he does not get surgery, “he could die.”
Attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan spoke of his client’s poor condition during an interview with Evers on Tuesday, after visiting the deejay on Monday, May 29.
“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,” Buchanan said.
Buchanan further described his client’s features, noting that his face have become swollen.
“He always wears glasses because the condition that he has causes his eyes to protrude,” he added.
The deejay’s medical condition allegedly worsened after a 23-hour prison lockdown was imposed following the recent discovery of cell phones within his cell.
