Beloved East Bay Dancer Needs Heart Transplant After Collapse

An Oakland-born dancer, choreographer and Bay Area ballroom star has been hospitalized following a cardiac arrest caused by a rare heart condition. Gbari “GQ” Gilliam suffers from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart muscle to thicken, limiting or preventing blood flow. As a result, the 32-year-old now needs a heart transplant.

Gilliam is currently in the intensive care unit of Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after collapsing during a dance rehearsal on March 27. The former Berkeley High student originally moved to Los Angeles to study at UCLA, graduating in 2016. Since then, Gilliam has remained in Southern California. He has performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, worked with Tyler Perry Studios and appeared in short films.

Gilliam’s mother Tuseda Graggs-Borden, who is based in San Francisco, believes her son’s life was saved by a nurse who just happened to be passing the dance studio at the time of his collapse. According to news reports, when the nurse saw Gilliam’s panicked friends, she stepped up to assist them, performed CPR on him and assisted paramedics as they rushed Gilliam to the hospital. The identity of the nurse remains a mystery.

Gilliam has been sustained ever since by an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine that acts as an artificial heart and lung. He is under heavy sedation.

A GoFundMe campaign to help cover Gilliam’s considerable medical and family expenses has been set up by his aunt, Perginia Shank. So far, almost 4,000 donors have stepped up, raising more than $250,000 of a $500,000 goal.

“Gbari has been a staple not just in my life, but in so many different communities,” Gilliam’s girlfriend and dance partner Shantel Ureña told NBC4 News. “He’s like the person that you go to when you need someone to talk to, when you need someone to lean on. Because he’s poured so much into other people, it’s really beautiful to see other people pouring it back into him in this moment.”

For now, Gilliam’s friends and family are doing their best to stay optimistic about his future. His mom Tuseda Graggs-Borden told NBC4, “I just believe that he’s going to be back out there, dancing his heart out, being that light.”

The GQ Ball: House and Waacking battles + Mini Ball will take place on April 18, 2026 at Fluid510 (1544 Broadway) in Oakland. All proceeds raised will go to Gilliam’s GoFundMe.