An anonymous donor offered to pay over R100k for a life-saving operation, after finding out that the talented artist could not afford it.
Johannesburg, South Africa – John Tsenoli (now 20 but was 19 when this took place last year) is a very talented youngster who’s been a sponsorship artist at “Born To Perform” and his performing arts school, Stageworx School of the Performing Arts for the past few years.
About a year ago, a growth appeared on his neck that continued growing, but the costs of the operation were out of the possibility of him being able to pay for it. His family, friends and colleagues were all very stressed, as you can imagine, as it continued to grow.
He went to have it tested and thankfully was told that it was benign, but it was still seriously dangerous as it was getting closer to his vocal cords – and as a singer, that’s a major problem and threat.
Collet Dawson – the owner of The CoLab Network – decided to include him in her show GONE TOO SOON that was on stage at The Lyric at Gold Reef City on 20 and 21 October.
“GONE TOO SOON was staged at The Lyric at Gold Reef City in October, paying tribute to those iconic music legends who left us way too soon, but who live on through their timeless hits.”
One of the crowd favourites was John’s performances of the local Mandoza hit, “Nkalakatha”. The widely diverse crowd took to their feet on both nights as the talented singer captivated the audience.
One of the audience members who saw the Saturday night show was just as blown away with his performance as everyone else. She was so impressed with his talent and stage presence that she approached Collet that evening and asked about the growth on John’s neck.
“I filled her in on his story and she was so inspired about the journey he’d already traveled in his short life that she offered on the spot to fund the operation when I told her that John wasn’t able to afford it.
Her commitment didn’t waver – and the operation was funded without delay!”
John had the operation in late November and has been given the 100% ALL CLEAR. He’s 100% healthy and is now ready to take on the music world in 2019!
“The generous donor wished to remain anonymous at the time but I knew we had to give her the recognition she deserves and convinced her to let us publish her name.”
That person was Carolyn Steyn – a big supporter of the Arts and an incredible South African!
“A huge THANK YOU to Carolyn Steyn for coming on board as that Guardian Angel and literally changing John’s life! What a treasure you are and words alone can’t show you all our gratitude! We need more people like you in our universe!”
Watch his incredible performance below:
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