Ever since September of 2020, legendary rapper Scarface of The Geto Boys, has been searching for a kidney after his kidneys never fully recovered and he was on dialysis. Born Brad Jordan, Scarface just revealed that his 30-year-old son Brandon would be giving him one of his kidneys.
“A couple of days ago .. well Friday they called me and said I was a match with my son,” Scarface said over a Zoom call promoting he and Willie D’s brand new podcast, Geto Boys Reloaded. “So it’s any day now.”
The 50-year-old Houston legend was forced him to be bedridden for weeks and isolated from his family. At one point, doctors determined he had kidney failure and needed a transplant. The search for a match began last Fall and ultimately, Scarface’s son Chris was a match.
You May Also Like
“I need a kidney y’all any volunteers? B+ blood type,” Scarface tweeted.
“COVID attacked my lungs first, and then it attacked my kidneys and knocked them out,”
Scarface told HipHop Wired. “I got full lung recovery, but my kidneys never came back … I’m still a little weak. I don’t have a lot of strength in my legs yet. I still haven’t got full taste back and sense of smell yet. But I am glad to be alive.”
When asked if he would have transplanted a kidney to Scarface, Willie D joked he didn’t like his Geto Boys brother to such a degree.
“He got plenty of people who do like him more than I like him,” Willie said as reported by Black Enterprise. “He had people lined up around the corner, hitting me up saying, ‘Tell Scarface I got a kidney for him!’ It’s beautiful. It’s a testament to his contribution because people wanted to support him. They were coming out of the woodwork.”
You May Also Like
Scarface interjected, “Willie try to play that tough-guy role, but guess who’s the first person to come and visit? Willie D! Super tough guy. So I had the COVID hella bad and you had to walk in my room with a spacesuit on. Guess who came in my room with a spacesuit on?”
When it comes to kidney disease, all hands are needed on deck including family and friends like Willie D.
African Americans and Kidney Donations
Scarface seems to be one of the lucky ones. Historically, it's not that easy for an African American to get a donated organ that matches the person's blood type.
African Americans make up the largest group of minorities in need of an organ transplant. In 2018, African Americans made up 12.7 percent of the national population.
- The number of organ transplants performed on Black/African Americans in 2019 was 25.8 percent of the number of Black/African Americans currently waiting for a transplant. The number of transplants performed on white Americans was 47.6 percent of the number currently waiting.
- While 28.7 percent of the total candidates currently waiting for transplants are Black/African Americans, they comprised 12.5 percent of organ donors in 2019.
- In 2019, 74.5 percent of donor organs from Black/African Americans were from deceased donors.
- Although the total number of white Americans on organ transplant waiting lists is about 1.4 times greater than that of Black/African Americans, the number of candidates waiting for a kidney transplant is almost the same between Black/African Americans and white Americans.
- Black/African Americans have higher rates of diabetes and high blood pressure than the white population. These conditions are known to put patients at risk for organ failures.
Scarface's son, who is autistic, went missing nearly a decade ago. He studied music at West Los Angeles College and aspired to be like his father. Although described as high-functioning autistic, his mother said that her son wasn't likely to approach strangers for help. "He wouldn't go up to nobody," she said.
Family and friends gathered together and posted missing person fliers at some of Jordan's favorite hangout spots, as well as his school and his son was found healthy. "Thanks to everybody responsible for putting the word out my son is safe," Face tweeted along with added assurance, "Alive and Well! God is worthy of all praises."
