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DJ OG One, a longtime fixture of the Portland hip-hop scene and the official DJ for the Trail Blazers, is suffering from severely impaired eyesight following surgery for cancer.
OG One, whose given name is David Jackson, says he was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer last October. He went in for surgery at Providence Medical Center on March 14. While the surgery was successful in removing the cancer, when he came to, Jackson says his right arm had gone numb, and he'd lost the ability to see.
"I had no visual sight at all," he says. "I could hear voices, but couldn't see anything."
Doctors initially thought he had a stroke, but that was ruled out by an MRI. According to Jackson, an eye doctor later told him the blindness was likely the result of the position he was in during the surgery, which cut off blood flow in the nerves going to his eyes. He's since regained partial vision, though he can only make out vague shapes, and has yet to regain feeling in his arm.
"They're saying recovery would be like a stroke victim," Jackson says, "where you can't pinpoint and say where damage is done, and can't say how long it'll take to come back, if at all."
Jackson was born in Los Angeles and moved to Portland in the '90s. He's spent seven seasons as the Blazers' official DJ, playing music during home games. In 2015, he partnered with promoter StarChile and worked with City Hall on the inaugural Portland Hip-Hop Day.
It's been a rough year, health-wise, for members of the Blazers staff. Last May, the team's public address announcer, Mark Mason, suffered an arterial blood clot that nearly caused his leg to be amputated. He returned last fall.
Jackson hasn't DJed at Moda Center since March 11, and there are no indications of when he'll be able to return.
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up to assist with his medical bills.