Stroke Nearly Silences DJ Shortkut

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[RECORD SCRATCHING]

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JOHN: My name is John and I'm a professional DJ.
My stage name is Shortkut, and at the age of 48,
I had a hemorrhagic stroke.
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I was around 12 years old and I was more into scratching.
The other word for scratching is cutting.
To get to the turntables, I'd have to stand on a milk crate,
so I was really short.
One of my friends who taught me said, hey, man, Shortkut.
And the name stuck.
Music has been so much a part of my life.
I just grew up around music around the house,
especially in a Filipino household.
The karaoke machine was the center point
for to bring everybody together.
That was what inspired me to be a DJ.
As a DJ, being able to share music with people,
take them to a place where they've never been before.
For me, it just heals me.
Performing in front of a live audience is the biggest rush.
You have no idea what's going to happen next.
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Just wanna say, what's up, y'all?
We're at the Hollywood Bowl at the Roots Picnic,
doing the opening set.
A year ago, I had a hemorrhagic stroke.
I came off playing a string of nights.
When I got home in the middle of the night, the stroke happened.
I totally blanked out and didn't wake up
until I was in the hospital.
I had lost feeling in my left side.
And my left side is my prevalent side
of being able to manipulate the turntable.
I couldn't even move my hand back and forth.
I'm like, oh, my god, that's my career.
That's over.

They were able to transfer me to Alta Bates Summit.
And at the rehab facility, that's where the work started.
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They really took care of me in there.
They were very patient.
They got me back to learning those everyday things
that we just take for granted.
I show them videos of me on YouTube.
They'd show me there's exercises you need to get back to that.
My manager brought a portable DJ set up to the hospital room.
Just to be able to practice on that and they're showing me
everything that I'm learning in rehab relates to that unit
that I had.
So they worked with what my every day was going to be like.
It's been a year and I definitely
wouldn't be where I am today if it
wasn't for the team at Alta Bates Summit and Sutter Health.
Not only were they my therapists or my doctor,
they became my family.
The emotional support, the confidence
that they put in me to make me feel that I can do it.
My outlook has been real positive since the stroke.
I'm grateful to have friends and fans and family,
especially my manager, that keep me pushed and driven.
With every show that passes now, it's just been practice,
but practicing in front of a lot of people.
Maybe I'm not as mobile and agile as I used to be,
but I could still feel the music.
That's the thing that's the most important thing.
Music just heals.
It just heals everything.
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My name is John, and I'm a stroke survivor.