Christopher Reid of Kid ‘N Play Talks Heart Health; Urges Men To Get Checked

Christopher “Kid” Reid is turning a health crisis into a triumph. The House Party star and one-half of beloved duo Kid ‘N Play is opening up about his own heart health after being diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Kid appeared on Good Morning, America alongside his cardiologist, Dr. Erika Jones. They talked about his diagnosis and how Kid found out he needed a transplant. 

“Over the last year or so, [I] maybe just started feeling more fatigued than before, shortness of breath, sleeping more than normal,” said Kid. “I think sometimes you chalk it up to, ‘I’m getting older, the road is harsh, doing the old kick step.’”

Dr. Jones said that after Kid came to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles with worsening symptoms, he was given more medications. But things still were not improving — quite the opposite. 

“He came in very swollen again and that is a little unusual in somebody who’s been started on treatment, for the swelling to come back that quickly,” Jones told GMA. “The blood work confirmed my suspicion. It showed that his heart was failing and it was starting to affect his other organs.”

The 61-year-old was told that his only option was a heart transplant and he was immediately placed on a transplant wait list. 

“When we think about status for heart transplant, he was high on the list because of how ill he was and really kind of dealing with a life-or-death situation,” explained Kid’s surgeon, Dr. Laura DiChiacchio. Kid was able to find a new heart in just nine days; now, he wants to use his experience to help raise awareness and encourage others.

“A lot of people are walking around with heart disease because they don’t go to the doctor. And you know, traditionally, people of color, we don’t go,” he said. “We don’t go for a lot of reasons. Sometimes we don’t go because we don’t have insurance. A lot of times we don’t go because we don’t want the bad news or we too busy just hustling trying to make it from day to day and we feel we don’t got time or we’ll get over it.

“Well, you might not,” Reid continued. “So I’m urging all of my fans, all of your loved ones to get checked out.”

According to the American Heart Association, heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S., while stroke is now No. 4. Together, heart disease and stroke accounted for more than a quarter of all deaths in the U.S. in 2023, the most current year for which data is available. Cardiovascular diseases, including all types of heart disease and stroke, claim more lives in the U.S. each year than the No. 2 and No. 3 causes — cancer and accidents — combined.