“KJ Belch”, has been a local and popular, some would say famous, Karaoke DJ here in the Plano/Frisco area, for over 15 years. Last year he woke up at the usual time of day but had unusual chest pains. It felt like a human being was standing on his chest. It was like a painful sharp pressure. He had a cough and an allergy, and he thought it was related to that, so he tried to ignore it. “I’m too young to have a heart attack,” he thought. Belch is 65. So he went to the bank continuing his normal routine. While there he started feeling lightheaded, but still ignored it.
Later that day he was driving to work and was passing by the hospital. He thought, “Should I go to the hospital, or should I go buy an energy drink and just go to work?”. Luckily for himself, his family, and all his Karaoke fans, Belch pulled into the hospital.
The docs admitted him and started running tests. About 2 hours went by and he found out his insurance was no longer valid because he hadn’t worked enough hours at his second “day” job to qualify for benefits. He still didn’t know what was wrong at this time. About then his heart was entering A-Fib mode and was beating at 180bmp. The docs started treating that and then determined he had probably survived a minor heart attack.
The doctors treated him, gave him meds and a recovery plan, and then released him about a day later. They also gave him a $12K bill. Belch went back to work before the docs released him to return (two weeks later). He had many visits and lots of meds to pay for since then, and the event has been financially straining. Belch has been implementing diet and lifestyle changes trying to avoid a 2nd heart attack. His doctors also think he may have had a mild stroke related to this incident.
You can find DJ Belch running a great karaoke show at Lantern St Pub in Plano on Thurs-Sat nights at 10 pm. Tell him Mankind sent you and he’ll move you to the top of the “next song list”.