Rapper Kid Cudi "broke down" after seeing the two-part video posted on YouTube by an 18-year-old fan from Austin, Tex., who would die shortly afterward from a life-long heart condition.
The teenager, Ben Breedlove, died on Christmas Day of a heart attack, but posted his story in a pair of videos a week earlier. In the videos, with an instrumental version of Gary Jules' "Mad World" playing in the background, Breedlove, over a series of handwritten index cards, silently tells of his life coping with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition marked by the thickening of the heart muscle that makes it hard for the organ to pump blood.
Breedlove relays several near-death experiences over his life, most recently being when he collapsed in the hallway of his high school. During the few minutes between when he stopped breathing and was revived by EMS paramedics, he said he had a vision of a being in a white room alongside his hero, Kid Cudi.
"I am so sad about Ben Breedlove," Kid Cudi wrote on his Tumblr blog. "I watched the video he left for the world to see, and him seeing me in detail, in his vision really warmed my heart. I broke down, I am to tears because I hate how life is so unfair. This has really touched my heart in a way I cant describe, this is why I do what I do. Why I write my life, and why I love you all so much.
"Life is really f---- up sometimes, but I know Ben is at Peace, and I hope he gets a chance to sit and talk with my Dad. We love you Ben. Forever. Thank you for loving me. To Ben’s family, you raised a real hero, he’s definitely mine. You have my love," the 27-year-old rapper wrote before signing off with his real name, Scott Mescudi.
Friends and family didn't discover the Westlake High School senior's video farewell until after his death, but his mother, Deanne Breedlove, told the Austin Statesman that "it was a gift to us, and for him to be so confident and unafraid of death and to share it with other people was so touching."
During the few minutes between when he stopped breathing and was revived by EMS paramedics, he said he had a vision of a being in a white room alongside his hero, Kid Cudi.
I know, I can't believe how disrespectful people are being
I've actually had a heart condition myself when I was younger at the age of two; it wasn't the same thing he had but still I know what he went through. It has been repaired though so thank god.
I know, I can't believe how disrespectful people are being
!! I don't believe in God either but people are so rude for no reason just because he mentioned God. There is a time and a place for things. So insensitive and awful.
I'm glad he's resting now. so sad
