Britain’s Got Talent’s Mark McMullan will give prize money to medical charity if he wins after being inspired to sing by Locked In Syndrome sufferer brother Declan
BRITAIN's Got Talent semi-finalist Mark McMullan has revealed that if he wins the show he will donate his prize money to medical research to help his disabled brother Declan.
The 24-year-old brought the nation to tears at his first audition with his rendition of the Les Miserables classic ‘Bring Me Home’ which was a tribute to his big brother.
Declan, 26, suffers from Locked In Syndrome - he is completely aware and conscious but can't communicate verbally and he is almost completely paralysed.
"It's just like being buried alive, the only thing he can do is physically hear, everything else he can't do anything basically," Mark exclusively told The Sun Online.
He explained his big brother was a completely normal 19-year-old getting ready to go to school one morning when he "just dropped dead".
"Unfortunately we didn't find him until 20-30 minutes after, he'd been dead for that long, so that's quite a lot of brain damage," he explained.
Although Declan's situation seemed hopeless, the family had a breakthrough when they discovered he can still hear - giving him a whole new quality of life.
"That's where music became a big thing, music became a big way of him being able to convey his emotions as we all tend to relate certain songs to feelings and memories and that's the same for Declan."
He added: "Finding out that he could hear again was a big break through for us and we're so glad we've got to this point, we're on the show and I think his hearing is an integral part of why I sing now and it makes everything I do more poignant.
"That's the only way we communicate with him."
The McMullan family have also adapted their own language to help talk to Declan where he blinks to letters and words.
When asked what he would do with the prize money if he won the show, Mark said that it would be nice to help research surrounding his brothers illness.
"If I did win, a lot of the prize money will be going towards Declan, raising awareness, funding of different charities to help support people like Declan, people who are in need of a bit more care, I think the biggest thing for me is that Declan, because there is no cure for his condition," he said.
“There’s not very many things out there that people think could cure Declan, but there’s talk to different things, and I would be very interested in using a lot of the money to see if we can get these things to go.
“Obviously he has his hearing, but I would love to be able to give him something back, like his sight or his speech.”
Mark, who is currently studying for his Master’s degree in Architecture has always had a passion for music.
“Music has always been what I wanted to do, from when I was a kid," he said.
"I always, always dreamed of being a singer, just sometimes I’ve dreamt of being a song writer and not a singer.”
While speaking about tonight’s semi-finals, Mark joked that his preparation for the show is that he won’t eat any dinner in case he burps on stage.
“My weirdest ritual is probably not to eat…
"A guy just came up to me and was like what do you want for lunch and dinner, and I was like I’ll have lunch but I don’t want anything for dinner, and they were like you need your energy and I was like no, I always feel like if I eat dinner I’m going to burp on stage!”
Britain’s Got Talent Live Semi-Finals are on tonight at 7:30pm on ITV
Got a story? email [email protected] or call us direct on 02077824220.
We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.