Info: www.damesofpa.com, myspace.com/dollarsfordiane
by Alan K. StoutMusic Columnist
On Sunday night, area musicians will hit the stage at what has now become the annual “Dollars For Diane” benefit at Ole Tyme Charley’s in Plains Twp. It will be the third such event since 2007, and it is once again being done in honor of Diane Kovaleski.
Kovaleski, who turns 33 on Saturday, had her life turned upside down on Sept. 25, 2007 while undergoing an operation to have a tumor removed from inside her eye. Her sister, Karyn Albano, says that once the tumor was removed from the optic nerve, an artery ruptured, and she suffered a brain hemorrhage, which lead to a stroke. Albano says attempts to stop the bleeding only worsened the situation, which led to the traumatic brain injury.
This year’s benefit will aid the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a scholarship fund for Diane’s four-year-old daughter Zayda Gordon. Though past events have raised money for Kovaleski’s medical expenses, Albano says her financial needs have now been taken care of and that her family and friends feel what she needs now is simply more medical research that might improve her current condition. Thus their decision to donate a large portion of money raised at the event to the Center for Brain Injury and Repair.
“Everything that they can do for her right now is being provided,” says Albano. “But brain injuries are still a mystery, and they’re one of the most common things that can happen to a person, especially young people — whether it be from bumping your head, or a stroke, or an accident, or like with Diane, surgery that just didn’t work out. They used to think that once you lost brain cells, you couldn’t get them back, and now they’re discovering, through research, that it’s not necessarily true.”
Kovaleski, who was initially in a non-responsive vegetative state, has lost her ability to speak and is paralyzed on the right side of her body. Although her family was initially told in the days following the surgery that she would never improve, she now lives in a nursing home, knows her family and friends and can communicate in some ways.
“Sometimes, brain cells can (function if a different way) from what they’ve been doing, and maybe you can re-teach somebody the skills that they’ve lost,” says Albano. “We don’t know right now exactly how to help someone like Diane, but there is hope. She’s there. But it’s sort of like she’s trapped in there and can’t get out.”
The 2010 “Dollars For Diane” show will begin at 6 p m. and will feature music from five acts: Panacea, Gone Crazy, Rhyne McCormick, Scott Erickson, Animal Society and the Travelling Wilkes-Barrians. There will be a $5 donation at the door, and there will also be chance prizes and door prizes.
Albano says her sister has always been a huge fan of the local music scene, and thus doing another music-related event in her honor seemed appropriate. In addition to the show, a “Dollars For Diane” compilation CD will also aid the cause. The CD features 15 original songs from artists such as Panacea, Darcie Miner, Hannah Bingman, Brad Yoder, Rhyne McCormick, Stoney Creek and Hot Wing Jones. The CD also includes a song written especially for Diane by Ric Albano, Karyn’s husband, which is sung by her cousin, PJ Heckman and was produced by Bret Alexander. The CDs will sell for a $5 at the show and are also available through any of the artists on the CD or by contacting dollarsfordiane@yahoo.com.
Assisting in putting together this year’s event is Tammy Gluck, a close friend of Kovaleski. The first two benefits raised a total of about $8,000. Albano hopes the money raised on Sunday might will not only help Kovaleski’s young daughter, but also, through research, help others in a similar situation.
“Somebody else shouldn’t have to go through this,” she says. “All of these artists that contributed to the CD and are playing at the show are doing it because Diane has inspired them. She’s beaten all of these odds. We were told she wasn’t supposed to make it through the night. She was never supposed to make it through the week. She might not ever wake up. If she woke up, she would never know who she was, or where she was. And here she is. She knows where she is. She knows who she is. She’s able to visit with her daughter. She’s really an inspiration.”
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