X Factor hopeful Rebekah Ryan opens up about death of three-year-old son
Singer hopes to perform a song she penned for late son Ethan, who died after from Sandhoff Syndrome
X FACTOR hopeful Rebekah Ryan has opened up about the death of her three-year-old son.
The mum-of-two confessed she didn't think she'd make it through her audition after singing the track played at his funeral.
She revealed she hopes to perform a song she penned for her late son Ethan, who died after from Sandhoff Syndrome, which affects just one in a million.
Rebekah, who wowed the judges with Sarah McLachlan's Angels, also told how her son was misdiagnosed by doctors after he showed no signs of developing aged ten months.
The 40-year-old, who had two previous record deals, broke down in tears as she told The Sun: "It was the first song I wrote the day he was given his diagnosis.
"I went home, scribbled lyrics to get the feelings out and that song means a hell of a lot.
"I was hoping that if that second deal had worked out, I could release it as a charity record and help raise awareness but it just didn't pan out that way.
"It would be amazing to perform the song on the X Factor and I can live in hope.
"He was ten months old, we saw things weren't quite right but being my first child I didn't really know what the milestones were and it was other people that noticed them.
"I was just enjoying my first child.
"We raised the flag with the NHS and he was misdiagnosed a few times, we were told he had cerebral palsy and then they said there was nothing wrong with him.
"So then we had to get a second opinion.
"They managed to find out that he had Sandhoff disease, it's extremely rare, it's one in a million chance.
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"It's very hard, they gave him 18 months that was the prognosis.
"He held on till he was three and a half, he was a very brave little boy."
Opening up about tonight's audition, where she impressed all four judges, Rebekah said: "It was a song that was played at Ethan's funeral and it was a song that lyrically meant the world to me,
"I just didn't know if I could get through it to be honest."
Rebekah has just come out of a divorce and is living with her parents and son Seb, 7, as she waits for a council house.
She added: "I'm trying to get a house and I'm struggling desperately to get one.
"I've been with my parents since April, it's just one of those things.
"It's not that financially easy."
Rebekah, who appeared on the X Factor Four in 2007 made it through to the final 12 in Louis Walsh's category but said he failed to recognise her from being her mentor.
She was given a record deal aged 17 but was later dropped after her biggest song You Lift Me Up reached number 26 in the charts.
She was given another deal just years later but was also dropped.