{"id":88885,"date":"2025-05-10T02:01:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-10T02:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/88885\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T02:01:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T02:01:13","slug":"mans-gums-wouldnt-stop-bleeding-for-sinister-reason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/88885\/","title":{"rendered":"Man’s gums wouldn’t stop bleeding for sinister reason"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gaz ‘wasn’t feeling himself’ but didn’t know how serious his illness was\"Gaz'sGaz’s life was turned upside down in the space of a week(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

A dad who just felt \u2018dead tired\u2019 has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Gareth Memphis, 34, from Merseyside, is best known as DJ G-A-Z.<\/a> He is an award winning DJ that has toured with the likes of D Block Europe and other major rappers.<\/p>\n

Gaz goes to the gym regularly<\/a> and walks 15,000 steps every day. He was confused when he started feeling fatigued and later experienced severe bleeding from his gums.<\/p>\n

It turned out that Gaz was actually experiencing symptoms of leukaemia, a cancer of the white blood cells. Acute leukaemia progresses quickly and aggressively and requires immediate treatment.<\/p>\n

Gaz began to feel extremely tired in early March of this year but didn\u2019t think it was anything serious. He told the ECHO:<\/a> \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Gaz visited his mum\u2019s house in Southport<\/a> for Mother\u2019s Day in the last weekend of March however, he ran into another problem. He said: \u201dOn 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bleeding didn’t stop for about four to six hours, it was constantly bleeding out of my mouth. It wasn\u2019t painful though. I just thought it was a dental thing because why wouldn\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

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: \u201cHe had a look and said, \u2018I\u2019m sure everything will be alright, but I advise you to go and get a blood test.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As Gaz waited for a blood test, his condition rapidly worsened. He said: \u201cI was really pale. From Wednesday to Friday, I was basically bedbound. I\u2019d go downstairs and when I went back upstairs I\u2019d fall over.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy legs would just give up. I was thinking, something\u2019s not right here. But I still thought it could be covid, a virus or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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: \u201cShe took one look at me and sent me straight to Southport A&E. She said, \u2018you’re not having a blood test, you\u2019re anaemic.\u2019<\/p>\n

After some blood transfusions there, Gaz was transferred to Whiston Hospital<\/a> 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: \u201cThe doctors said, if I\u2019d have left it any later, my organs probably would have failed. Luckily the timings worked out. It\u2019s crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GazGaz is currently undergoing chemotherapy(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

Gaz is currently undergoing chemotherapy. He had heard of leukaemia before but didn’t really know what it was. As a result, he\u2019s now keen to raise awareness about the condition.<\/p>\n

Gaz said: \u201cI\u2019ve heard of it before but didn\u2019t really understand. That\u2019s obviously down to a lack of awareness and I feel a lot of young people will be in the same boat as me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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, \u2018it can happen to anyone at any time.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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, @djg_a_z, about getting a blood transfusion and explaining early symptoms.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s sister is also walking the length of the Peak District this week to raise money for the charity too.<\/p>\n

\"GazGaz with fellow DJ Billie Clements at the fundraising event last week(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n

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: \u201cIt was great getting all of them together last week. It made me feel good because I need that performance fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaz will leave Whiston Hospital soon as his chemotherapy continues but admitted it\u2019s difficult not knowing what his life after that will look like.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cA doctor told me I might be on pills for the rest of my life. The mental aspect is the hardest part, I\u2019m not living my life. But I\u2019ve got a lot of stuff planned with my podcast where I\u2019ll spread awareness about leukaemia.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gaz ‘wasn’t feeling himself’ but didn’t know how serious his illness wasGaz’s life was turned upside down in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88886,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,6513,179,371,16,15,42285],"class_list":{"0":"post-88885","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-health-and-fitness","12":"tag-liverpool","13":"tag-southport","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-whiston-hospital"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114481075874105681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}