Marlyn Vansen takes a look on the Bright Side
To start the New Year, Sabreena went looking on the Bright Side of living through singer and performer, Marlyn Vansen. Marlyn is a mother, wife, and young artist, known for her captivating stage performances and hit songs as far back as 2017. But in 2021, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and her life changed drastically. Sabreena spent the day with Marlyn to find out how last year’s happening was the catalyst to her new perspective of living; living with her reality but for herself.
Marlyn Vansen
Marlyn Vansen, Belizean Artist
“I was just like a little child singing and dancing and I probably looked silly back then but I really, really enjoyed it. For majority of that time, maybe thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, I was really shy. I would be dancing with my dancers but I wouldn’t be performing because I was shy. But the thing is, I had it in me, you know?”
Marlyn Vansen has been a household name in Belize since 2017. The young musician made her break in performing right here on a channel 5 stage. She was a young artist with dreams of making it big.
Marlyn Vansen
“As a child, I imagined and I had that dream that I want to go and I want to be like those bigger names and I want to reach there one day. I need a record deal or I needed someone to see me. I need to be discovered to be able to do that. I want to do that. You know with time passing and it never happened, I wasn’t getting discovered. I wasn’t getting a record deal; it wasn’t happening so I made it happen for myself. Time is passing and I’m losing time. I want to do this. It was me taking life into my own hands pretty much and making it happen because why should I wait. If you want to be a movie star, why wait to be booked on a movie? Make a movie.”
A fan base quickly grew. Known for taking over the stage with her captivating performances, Vansen was being compared to the likes of Beyonce and other mainstream artists. Her biggest opportunity came in the booking of the international Costa Maya Festival.
Marlyn Vansen
“Being booked for Costa Maya, I think it was 2019, that was the biggest opportunity I could see in my path. From I was young and I knew about Costa Maya that was the place. It was international and it would have all these people. That could have been my opportunity to maybe be discovered. You know, sometimes, something really small to someone else can be the biggest deal to you. So for me, back then that was the biggest deal to me and I’ll never forget that feeling, that feeling of actually making it to something grand.”
She even became a young mother and embraced her role of artist and family woman. She had it all.
Marlyn Vansen
“In the beginning, with my baby, I had a plan. I had a future set out in my mind that it was going to be like, so, I had hoped that I would be able to be performing and that was going to be a part of our daily lives, you know. I started getting ready for a show and now my baby was there so she was kinda walking around seeing us dance and that felt so good because it’s definitely what I had envisioned. My baby is going to see me doing what I love and she’s probably going to want to do it too. I also imagined that I would be able to be doing everything with her so we would be running around and I could play with her all day and I could do so many things but then I got sick. That future kind of then got boxed aside.”
Marlyn’s sickness would put her blooming career on an instant halt. Fans questioned her sudden hiatus. After seeking the opinion of several specialists, a revelation would be made. Marlyn suffered from a neurological disease called Multiple Sclerosis. With an immune system that should be protecting the body from incoming illness, hers attacked her brain. She suffered partial paralysis and bouts of seizers, as a result. The slightest move her body made would bring about a seizer. Eating, coughing, the lifting of her arms too quickly would initiate a seizer that lasted for sixty seconds. At a point in her life, she was experiencing up to ninety seizers a day.
Marlyn Vansen
“It was something that, you know, I can’t live like this. This hurts, it’s horrible. This feels like I am going to die. Because we couldn’t figure out what it was, I felt that this was probably the lead up to me dying. That’s what it felt like. And so I felt like I was being tortured to death. I didn’t want to be tortured to death, why not just get it over with?”
Vansen’s support system carried her through the hardest moments of her life. The system that still carries her is present in the constant fundraisers to ensure her health needs are met through medicinal therapy. With an illness that bears a hefty remedial price tag, meeting a monthly capital of some five thousand dollars would be the requirement for treatment to sustain her for rest of her life.
Marlyn Vansen
“What my MS medication pretty much does is to somewhat control my immune system. It kind of somewhat breaks it down so that it’s not as strong to continue fighting my brain. So, that’s not good either because you end up with a weakened immune system. You’re ore open to catching the flu and whatever is passing by. You’re more prone to catching these things so you have to be very careful.”
Marlyn has been now battling this disease for over a year. She described the after effects Multiple Sclerosis has had on her body. Although on medication, she is left with chronic fatigue and has even had to carry a cane for support should her leg give out from sudden weakness. Her reality has shaped her quality of life drastically, but Marlyn showed us that she is not making her limitation control her. She has found new passions and even explored music on a technical level. Music is still a big part of her life and now she even makes the beats.
Marlyn Vansen
“You know this is something; you say the sickness is like a curse, it’s a burden. But I also see it as a blessing because it gave me a moment to learn and take on new skills. At one point in my life, if you asked me, I would tell you I don’t know anything but music. I don’t know anything but singing and performing but I had a moment to learn new things. I started to make my own music. I started to paint, something I never I would ever be doing. I don’t have a drawing bone in my body but painting for some reason has been working and I love it and I would have never known that I could do that if it wasn’t for my illness. I started to make ice cream. Who would have thought? And I’m even considering selling it because hey!”
And in December 2022 Marlyn decided to test her strength. After a year away from the stage and public eye as a performer, she made her first performance back on the very stage that introduced her to the world.
Marlyn Vansen
“The first time I was ever on television, it was on channel five. So, I started there and I would start there again. So I reached out and we made it happen. I was so, so happy and everyone was happy for me too you know because they knew. But really they don’t know how much that means to me.”
So what can we expect next from Marlyn? The performer says she is looking on the bright side that she will end up on that stage again doing what she loves, they way she loves. Looking on The Bright Side, I’m Sabreena Daly.
