DJ Official's Double Lung Transplant Fund

Posted on August 17, 2016

A message from Teresa Chu, wife of Nelson "DJ Official" Chu:

On Sunday, August 14th, 2016 Nelson Chu (AKA DJ Official) went to be with the Lord.  My husband was a one of a kind human being.  He had a heart of gold, an ability to make people laugh like no other, and a strength to keep on fighting to live that could have only come from God. in

Even though this past year was the most painful for him physically, he also had one of the best years of his life.  Being approved to get listed for the double lung transplant gave Nelson joy and hope beyond anyone’s comprehension.  When the reality that Nelson was not going to come home with me and our girls hit me, I screamed, cried, asking God WHY?!  How can this be that after 9 months of vigorous testing clearing him for surgery could this have happened?  But memories of our life together this past year came to my mind and it all made sense.  That joy and hope was given to Nelson so that he could live again, and while it was only for less than 1 year, it was spent full of fun family times, laughs, encouragement, and love.

Although my husband was a man of many great accomplishments in the world of music, his greatest accomplishment was raising his beautiful daughters Bella and Sophia in the Lord.  Nelson was extremely close with them.  Often, they would both say that Daddy is the “greatest super hero they ever knew of” because through his pain, suffering, and anxiety he would still live his life with a smile, cracking jokes, and being the best father he could be.  Even with 13% lung function, Nelson still would get up and drive himself to dialysis 3 days a week during the day and go Pokémon hunting with his girls in the evening.  He was a big kid with an even bigger heart.

My heart is broken and the pain of his departure is unbearable but the stories of how many lives he touched through his music and life’s struggles have brought an overwhelming comfort and peace.  I could write for days about the love he had for his family, brothers at Reach Records & Cross Movement, fellow musicians, his Xbox gaming clan, his church families, and fans.  But the love returned has been seen in each and every one of you as we grieve together as one big body of Christ and say see you in Glory to our dear sweet Husband, Father, Son, Brother, Uncle & Friend DJ OFFICIAL.

The sacrificial outpouring of support during this time has been overwhelming and his entire family is beyond thankful for each and every one of you.  We love you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts and ask that you continue to pray for comfort, peace and understanding to all that are suffering from this great loss.  May we all rejoice in knowing that Nelson is home and that his purpose for the Lord has been fulfilled.  May Nelson rest in peace, pain free, making Angels sing, rap, and laugh standing beside our Almighty Father and Lord and Savior in Heaven.

Funeral arrangements are currently being made and we will release the details once finalized. 

Posted on August 10, 2016

We cannot say thank you enough or put into words how grateful we are for every donation and that we were able to hit our goal.  This fund takes a huge burden off of Teresa, who is already going through so much.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, and God bless you all.  

Things are a bit tough for Nelson right now.  He has faced setbacks in his recovery and is still in the ICU.  We are remaining prayerful and faithful.  Every single prayer and comment for him means so much to his family, thank you all again so much.

Posted on August 7, 2016

In 2015, the opportunity arose for Nelson and his family to relocate from Philadelphia, PA to Columbus, OH which is 2 hours away from the Cleveland Clinic which is the top medical center in the country for lung transplants.  After consulting with doctors and specialists, and undergoing intensive testing for the next year, he finally got word that he had been approved for a lung transplant.  Although this was extremely nerve wrecking and scary, he was finally being given the CHANCE to live.  Within a few days of being officially listed, they received a call that a donor was available.  After rushing to the hospital, the lungs ended up being unusable.  This was just a “dry run” as he put it.  Not even a week later he gets another call saying there were lungs available.  On Saturday, July 30th at 1:30am, Nelson underwent a double lung transplant and also heart valve repair surgery.
Since then, it has been a rough and scary process.  We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we still weren’t prepared to see Nelson, our son, our brother, our uncle, our cousin, our silly and goofy Nelson go through what he is going through.  Each day presents a new challenge but we have faith the Lord is working.  In Nelson’s own words “Remember the GOD we serve is good. We must remember that he loves us more than any human being can love us, more than we love ourselves and will do what’s best for us. Sometimes things just don’t seem right or look impossible but we must remember that GOD has infinite wisdom and is all knowing and that he knows every situation from beginning to end. We just have to learn to lean on him and as Psalm 18:2 says “The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my savior”. We must learn to make the Lord our rock, our fortress, our savior and only then will things that seem off begin to shine a new light.”
Now onto the awkward part of this all….throughout these tough years Nelson’s wife Teresa has somehow managed to be a superwoman and keep her family afloat.  She is an amazing wife, mother, career woman, caretaker, and so much more.  She amazes all of us with how strong she is for her girls and how she has made Nelson strong even when he wanted to give up.  She has given so much of herself throughout the years and now we ask that that is returned to her.  The last thing we want her to worry about while her husband is in the ICU fighting for his life is how she is going to manage to pay for medical housing, travel expenses back and forth from Columbus to Cleveland, missing time from work and still being able to maintain her household expenses, and the surmounting medical bills.  We as a family are helping her as much as we can as well as paying travel expenses to fly back and forth in shifts to Cleveland to help relieve her as much as we can.  Any little bit helps and any amount donated would be greatly appreciated.  We thank you all so much again for your unwavering support and prayers.  Please continue to keep Nelson and his entire family in your prayers.  Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts.