Gayao’s hiatus from music came about due to necessity, not a creative lull or loss of passion for his craft. He’d been experiencing problems with his eyesight and figured it would be a good time to secure some health insurance coverage. So he took a full-time job at Richardson photography studio Artist Uprising, which equipped him with practical resources and the ability to continue flexing his creative muscle. Once he settled into his new professional endeavor, he made his way to an optometrist. That’s where it all started.
After some initial X-rays, Gayao's doctor found some concerning signs of hemorrhaging in his eyes and decided to check his blood pressure. It was 177/110, close to the danger zone. The optometrist immediately sent him to an urgent care clinic where his blood pressure was found to have further increased over the course of that hour. It was now 188/100, a bad sign. The clinic advised him to get to Medical City Dallas Hospital as soon as possible.
“And I headed over there, my girlfriend was with me," Gayao says. "And I remember this distinctly, walking into the emergency room I go, ‘Don't worry, they're probably just going to give me some meds. And we'll be out and we'll go get some dinner.
“I get in there and my blood pressure is at 245 over 120. And that hospital stay turned into three days, two nights, a CAT scan, and a biopsy.”
The test results of that hospital stay revealed that Gayao had IgA nephropathy, stage 4 kidney disease. This puts him at the highest possible risk for kidney failure and very high odds of developing heart disease. It was a life-altering news that required a drastic lifestyle change. He adopted a 100% plant-based diet, gave up alcohol and started daily walks of 10,000 to 20,000 steps.
His kidney function improved from 10% to 18%. His skin began to clear up and he stopped waking up foggy, gaining more energy by the day. Though he wasn’t out of the woods yet, far from it, he started feeling better. Feeling hopeful, Gayao asked his doctor if there may be a chance of reversing the disease. But he says he was told that just wasn’t in the cards, and the 8% increase in kidney function was as good as it was going to get without a kidney transplant.
Larry Gee's return to music has brought him a renewed sense of motivation since his diagnosis of kidney disease.
David Fernandez
“During those daily walks, I would just listen to music, listen to podcasts. I came across some songs from a playlist that I'd never released.” he says, “Songs that were done from 2013 to 2016. I remember listening to them and kind of feeling nostalgic. And it was during that time that I got a call out of nowhere from the producer on those songs, Beau Bedford.
Bedford was calling to check up on his friend and see how he was doing. Gayao took the coincidence as a sign, and asked for Beford’s blessing to release the songs. In retrospect, Gayao understands that timing as a sign. It was a much-needed lifeline, a boost of motivation to keep fighting and proof that God still had a plan for him.
As he began to release the songs, they started gaining traction on 91.7 KXT. Larry Gee started performing again for the first time in years, starting with a gig at Double Wide. And from there, doors began to open. He was tapped as an official artist for SXSW 2024, where he played all across the city of Austin (including a Rolling Stone showcase).
“When I was diagnosed, it was like doom and gloom,” he says. “I was so helpless on trying to figure out how I was gonna beat this thing, what I was gonna do, lifestyle changes and everything that I just forgot about, you know, the thing that made me happiest the most, which is music.”
Though the renewed sense of happiness filled him with a sense of purpose again, Gayao still urgently needed a kidney. His sister moved back to the U.S. from Thailand, relocating her family and determined to be the living donor who would save her brother’s life. However, after months of diagnostic testing to confirm that she would be a viable match, the siblings were devastated to learn that she wouldn’t be able to give him one of her kidneys.
In a recent heart-wrenching social media update, Gayao held back tears to share that doctors have advised him not to give up the search for a living donor. While he could wait for the chance to one day get the call that an organ donation has become available, it could take four or five years for that to happen. It’s unlikely that Larry Gayao has that much time left in his current condition.
“They are asking me now to go online and basically share my story, and basically put it out there.” he said, in his Instagram post, “So if you’re watching this video and you’re [blood] type O, it doesn’t have to be [type O] negative or positive, and you are open to donating a kidney, please let me know and let's go from there.”
If you’re a blood-type match, willing to try to save a life that’s given so much to the Dallas music and culture community, you can apply to be Larry’s living donor at utswlivingdonor.org.
“I’m not slowing down anytime soon — still performing, still making music.” he says, “Life is good, and I’m not going anywhere. I’ll keep fighting and doing what I love!”
Gayao is fighting the good fight, a desperate fight to live. Hopefully, with the city behind him, he will be gifted with the selfless act of a viable match to win that battle.
Larry Gee’s next single, “Goodbye”, will drop on Friday, Nov. 1.
