DJ Kurt Riley is now out the hospital and telling his story.
Nearly two weeks ago, Disc jockey and record producer Kurt “Party Animal” Riley was reported to be in the hospital battling an unconfirmed illness. Thankfully, an update that was provided by Kurt Riley’s daughters on his official Instagram page educated fans and well-wishers that their daddy was “recovering and doing much better.” The deejay himself has finally gotten hold of his own Instagram account and has chosen to educate his fans and well-wisher about what landed him in the hospital, as well as to thank everyone who tried to reach out to him.
In the first of a three-part post, he revealed that his over the top birthday celebrations possibly led to food poisoning as well as his body becoming dehydrated. He proceeded to handle the food poisoning at home however, his illness was compounded by flu-like symptoms leading him to think he possibly contracted COVID-19. As Kurt explained, “one day I asked my neighbor for a prescription and he sorted it based on the symptoms I explained I had but I still I felt a way, still couldn’t eat and always throwing up. Think it was the Monday I asked him if he could take me to UWI because I feel dehydrated and all I need was an IV to help.”
However, upon inspection by Dr. Looney, he was instructed to be admitted to the hospital immediately.
“Sigh. People this is where it got real. All I remembered was calling someone to tell my daughter I’m there as well as businesses that I had bookings for ….Thats it,” explained the former FAME FM disc jockey and presenter. As the deejay explains, he was placed in the ICU after being diagnosed with COVID-19 and alcohol withdrawal. Luckily, he was cleared of COVID-19 due to his test results returning negative for the virus, and he was later transported to another ward.
“2 arms string up like sound with needles and crazy plastic bag of things going into my body as well as I was on a ventilator. Listen to me, I had to ask someone to remind who I was because I was going out of my mind no joke I was hallucinating,” the disc jockey wrote as he recounted the traumatic experience. “Blood taken everyday from both arms an memba dem string mi up like a country sound.I was loosing it ppl.”
It was after a week and a half out of his two weeks stint that he was made aware of just how dire his condition was when The Patient Care Attendant explained that he wasn’t “supposed to be alive.”
The usually jovial producer who crafted the Jam Be An Riddim to facilitate Charly Black’s hit single “Gyal You A Party Animal” explained he wept at the news of not having COVID-19. In reality, Riley was suffering from a severe case of dehydration. He said, “Dem seh if my body supposed to have 10 gallons of water, i had a tea spoon. All now I don’t know how I got here.”
The deejay proceeded to thank just about everyone who played a role in his recovery and all the prayers sent in by fellow industry personnel such as Beenie Man and Sean Paul, just to name a few.
“Again I don’t know how I’m m alive but I know it wasn’t my doing. With tears in my eyes as I write this I’m sorry for scaring you all, it all came down suddenly on me and for now, I have to make changes to my lifestyle . Thank you all for the well wishes, I owe God and you all my life. It’s time to “Wake up and live.” Again thanks for saving my life,” concluded the tear-filled apology to his fans.
More love and light Mr. Riley!