Gareth Memphis from Merseyside, who is best known as DJ G-A-Z, told how he lived a fit and healthy lifestyle where he regularly went to the gym before suddenly falling ill
A DJ has told how he started to feel really “tired” before his gums started bleeding – he was then diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Gareth Memphis, 34, from Merseyside, is best known as DJ G-A-Z.
He is an award winning DJ that has toured with the likes of D Block Europe and other major rappers. Gaz goes to the gym regularly and walks 15,000 steps every day so he was confused when he started feeling tired. After then having severe bleeding from his gums medics told him he had symptoms of leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. Acute leukaemia progresses quickly and aggressively and requires immediate treatment.
Gaz began to feel extremely tired in early March of this year but didn’t think it was anything serious. He told the Liverpool Echo: “I started feeling dead lethargic and just not myself. But at the time I thought it was down to what I was doing at the gym or just a lack of sleep. That continued for a few weeks.”
When Gaz visited his mum’s house in Southport for Mother’s Day in the last weekend of March, however, he ran into another problem. He said: ”On the day I was due to leave, my gums randomly started bleeding quite heavily, like thick clotting blood. I’m used to having bleeding gums from brushing my teeth too hard. But it was a different kind, more like a purple colour.
“The bleeding didn’t stop for about four to six hours, it was constantly bleeding out of my mouth. It wasn’t painful though. I just thought it was a dental thing because why wouldn’t you?”
Gaz got an appointment with an emergency dentist the following Monday. His gums were cleaned but he was given a crucial piece of advice by a senior dentist at the surgery. He said: “He had a look and said, ‘I’m sure everything will be alright, but I advise you to go and get a blood test.”
As Gaz waited for a blood test, his condition rapidly worsened. He said: “I was really pale. From Wednesday to Friday, I was basically bedbound. I’d go downstairs and when I went back upstairs I’d fall over. My legs would just give up. I was thinking, something’s not right here. But I still thought it could be Covid, a virus or something like that.”
On Friday, Gaz had to be carried to a car to the blood test but the doctor was very concerned when he came for his appointment. Gaz said: “She took one look at me and sent me straight to Southport A&E. She said, ‘you’re not having a blood test, you’re anaemic.’
After some blood transfusions there, Gaz was transferred to Whiston Hospital where he has been ever since. Leukaemia causes low platelet counts through a condition called thrombocytopenia. Bleeding from your gums or nose can be a symptom of this.
He said: “The doctors said, if I’d have left it any later, my organs probably would have failed. Luckily the timings worked out. It’s crazy.” Gaz is currently undergoing chemotherapy. He had heard of leukaemia before but didn’t really know what it was. As a result, he’s now keen to raise awareness about the condition.
Gaz said: “I’ve heard of it before but didn’t really understand. That’s obviously down to a lack of awareness and I feel a lot of young people will be in the same boat as me. I live a fit and active lifestyle. I go to the gym, I get 15,000 steps in a day, I eat clean. I asked one of the doctors, what caused this? He said, ‘it can happen to anyone at any time’.”
Keen to let people know about the symptoms, Gaz has been active on social media from his hospital bed. He made a video on his Instagram account, about getting a blood transfusion and explaining early symptoms.
Last Thursday, Liverpool DJ Billie Clements and other artists collaborated with him for a livestream outside Whiston Hospital, which raised thousands for the Blood Cancer UK. Gaz’s sister is also walking the length of the Peak District this week to raise money for the charity too.
The DJ is planning to launch a podcast from his hospital room as well with special guests to talk about his everyday life and feelings after his life was turned upside down. Gaz said: “It was great getting all of them together last week. It made me feel good because I need that performance fix.”
Gaz will leave Whiston Hospital soon as his chemotherapy continues but admitted it’s difficult not knowing what his life after that will look like. He said: “A doctor told me I might be on pills for the rest of my life. The mental aspect is the hardest part, I’m not living my life. But I’ve got a lot of stuff planned with my podcast where I’ll spread awareness about leukaemia.”