Danielle Dieffenthaller and friends host benefit concert

Staying Alive, the benefit concert for filmmaker and producer Danielle Dieffenthaller, promises a star-studded line-up of artistes. Proceeds from the event will go to the Nation Organ Transplant Unit and the John Hayes Memorial Kidney Foundation.

Among the performers are Kes the Band, Machel Montano, Freetown Collective, 3canal, Orange Sky, Massy Trinidad All Stars, Sekon Sta, Preedy, Zan, Kernal Roberts, Kimba Sorzano, Nailah Blackman and Johann Chuckaree.

Dieffenthaller is best known for creating the long-running local soap opera, Westwood Park (1997-2004), which continues in syndication in the US, UK, and worldwide. Over almost three decades, she has produced ground-breaking television series, documentaries, reality television, corporate and music videos and has been a passionate advocate for a strong Caribbean film industry.

Dieffenthaller told Newsday she was diagnosed with renal failure at the end of 2018, at a time when other members of her family were also undergoing health challenges, including her father George “Bunny” Dieffenthaller, who passed away in January 2019.

“I was rolling with the punches, but I was also ignoring signs like breathlessness, swollen feet, and a couple other things, and I was busily explaining them away, maybe I need to exercise, I should cut down on salt – except I don’t use any – I did everything but go to a doctor, until my friend decided they didn’t like what was going on and said, ‘we’re going now.’”

She went to Dr Asante LeBlanc expecting to be sent home with some herbal medicine but was swiftly sent to the hospital.

“It snowballed from there. The doctors said I had end-stage renal failure and I had to get on haemodialysis immediately or they didn’t know if I’d last the week. Since then I’ve been living on dialysis three times a week, for three-and-a-half hours per session.” She said she has received major support from family and friends. She has a potential donor lined up and the necessary tests are being conducted. She said it was important to her that the funds from the concert benefitted the Nation Organ Transplant Unit at Mt Hope and the John Hayes Memorial Kidney Foundation.

“A lot of people are unaware that we have an organ transplant unit here. I want to raise awareness and help them any way I can, and with the proceeds we get, hopefully we sell out and could be very generous with them. They need help with everyday things, and help with raising awareness. The team at Mt Hope has already done over 200 successful transplants.

“We also want to try to lobby the transport commissioner and even the government to put on our IDs and drivers permits like they do in other countries to say whether or not we are organ donors, because it would help a lot of people if that was known. A lot of organs go up in smoke or six feet because families are afraid to make the decision for a deceased person, so it would be nice if people could make a decision for themselves and save another life.”

Dieffenthaller said while there has been a lot of buzz around the concert, the tickets sales have not been as fast as she would have thought, considering the overwhelming response to the announcement of the concert.

“I thought people would flock to see all these performers at that price, because it really is a great line-up and there’s something for everybody. All of these people have donated time to me and I couldn’t be more grateful.

“I’m assured that people like to make last-minute purchases, but I hope that they don’t wait until we’re sold out and get them now before it’s too late. We’ve catered for 3,000 people and we want people to be comfortable so they can have fun and enjoy the concert.”

She also thanked her sponsors, including Ojo World, CL Communications, HADCO, Red Express, AS Bryden, O2 Park, TCM, and more coming on, Sagicor, and Angostura.

The concert takes place on Saturday at O2 Park Chaguaramas, with gates opening at 6 pm and showtime at 7:30 pm. Tickets can be bought online at https://islandetickets.com/event/Staying-Alive-The-Concert; and at outlets OJOWorld 153 Tragarete Road; Cocobel Chocolates Fitt Street, Woodbrook; Veni Mange, Ariapita Ave; Haagen Dazs outlets nationwide; and, Lisa Faye Silks, St James.

To learn more about becoming an organ donor, go to https://health.gov.tt/services/organ-transplanting.