Kelowna jazz singer Anna Jacyszyn.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/FACEBOOK

A globe-trotting jazz singer helped elevate the local music scene in Kelowna, and now the community is rallying behind her to give her financial support after a near-death experience.

A speeding driver nearly killed Jazz Cafe Kelowna founder Anna Jacyszyn about a month ago.

“I shouldn't be alive,” Jacyszyn told iNFOnews.ca. “I was T-boned turning left off of Belgo Road onto Springfield Road and a speeding driver came around the corner... the car was a total wreck.”

When the local music community found out that she wouldn't be able to perform for the next six months, musician and friend Sean Bray set up an online fundraiser and organized a benefit concert.

The benefit is at 7 p.m. at Crown and Thieves on Feb. 27, and as of Feb. 25 the online fundraiser has collected approximately $25,000.

Jacyszyn said the money is going to help pay her regular bills as well as her rehabilitation costs.

“I never knew how much of an impact I made until this accident,” she said. “We were going to take out a loan on the house so that I could pay for my rehabilitation and my recuperation of not being able to work for the next six months. And without any prompt, Sean Bray was just like, we're going to do a fundraising concert for you.

It's a miracle. It's an absolute miracle. This Okanagan is my family. And thank you family for rallying around to support me. And that's how I feel.”

Jacyszyn was born in Kelowna and travelled around the world working in places like England and China before settling in Kelowna again. In addition to her singing, she's known for elevating the local jazz scene.

READ MORE: A refugee painter’s journey from Kyiv to Kelowna

“I started a jazz club back in 2008 at the back of the Kelowna Community Theatre at the Black Box. And we raised the bar. I have a citation from the City of Kelowna for raising the bar in the community, for upping the wages and making people recognize and step up and really work on their craft," she said.

"The jazz community, the musical community, it's a very talented pool of artists from actors to musicians. This is a very creative hub. And I'm just glad that I had a little notch on its bedpost of creativity."

She spent roughly a month in the hospital and she recently returned home but she has a long road to recovery ahead.

“After a month of being in a hospital, it feels nice to have a window to see, even though it's a grey day, I had three green curtains and a wall and sitting in a hospital bed and not being able to move or do much,” she said.

She might be laid up in bed with broken bones, but she can’t help but be creative.

“I just feel so loved. And that's the best feeling when you are healing. Hey, that rhymes. I'm going to write a song,” she said.

Jacyszyn had to cancel her shows over the next several months, but she’s already planning her comeback show in the summer at the Vibrant Vines outdoor stage on Aug. 9.

“I just want to get up and get on with it. But at least I'm slowing down to write more songs and use my creative mind instead of having to get out and, you know, force a living on myself because we have to pay the mortgage. So I'm so blessed that the community rallied together so that this financial burden of mortgage and bills is somewhat taken care of,” she said.

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