This afternoon, at 2 a.m., soca artiste Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez is going to be on site for day two of the video shoot for the music video of his runaway hit, “Differentology”.
It can be considered a miracle that Bunji is up and about, being as active as he is, since only days before, he was flattened by a virus that at one point had him drifting in and out of consciousness, causing his wife, Fay-Ann Lyons, as well as their doctor, Dr Asante LeBlanc, great concern.
“In the midst of everything, I remember the doctor telling Fay, ‘Don’t let him fall asleep. Just don’t let him fall asleep.’ It was some new strain of virus that seems to be morphing constantly and your body has to adapt to fight it.
“It came on suddenly in the middle of my performance at Dwight Yorke’s party in Tobago after Carnival. I remember jumping and feeling a sudden pain in my leg, then my joints started hurting.
“By the time I came off the stage, I told Fay that a fever just hit meh dey. She said, ‘Fever? Just so while we performing?’ Because a fever comes on gradually; it doh just hit like that.
“By the time we got to the airport, Fay had to take my boarding pass from me to give it to the people at the gate because my muscles were locked,” Garlin said.
Garlin said he has to thank LeBlanc because they called her after midnight and she sped into action immediately.
He said although he was wearing a sweater, he was freezing, and when the doctor checked him out, she was surprised to find that although his upper body was hot, his feet were cold.
LeBlanc administered medication and instructed Bunji to rest.
“Dr LeBlanc is a real champion, and Fay did everything to nurse me back to health. I can’t thank them enough because it was real scary.
“One of the good things was that through it all, I did not lose my appetite. Anyone who gets this virus, you need to have your appetite, or at least eat, to fight it.
Fay escaped; I feel because for the week after Carnival, she was doing her training and in the sauna, so I believe she sweat it out. I hear other artistes got touched by that virus, too. It does just hit you out of the blue,” Garlin said.
This past weekend, Garlin and Lyons performed in Guyana on the Friday, then headed to Toronto, Canada, for a show the next day.
While on stage in Toronto, Garlin began to feel weak, having had not much time to fully recuperate. He, however, continued through delivering what patrons there said was a fantastic performance, with Lyons at his side.
“It was real cold in Toronto, but in the venue, packed with a couple thousand people, it got hot and heat drains energy, so I began to feel weak while performing. But I had to do my job. If I were a policeman or fireman, I would have to do my best and get up and get the job done.
“I can’t have the attitude that I am an artiste so I can just not show up. I mean, if I was really down and out, I would have to cancel, but once I am able and have the strength, I have to pull myself up and go do my job as best I can,” Garlin said.
Garlin said he is still not at 100 per cent but is working on getting the video done for “Differentology”.
He is taking whatever vitamins he needs to, especially vitamin C. He is also eating lots of fruit and trying to get a full eight hours of sleep a night.
Garlin is advising people to do likewise to keep the virus from taking hold because it’s a deadly one.