Twenty-year-old barman and disc jockey Brandon, and his mom, Sharon Webb, from County Kildare, Ireland, shared their story.
“It was horrendous,” she added.
Brandon, sharing his side of the story, admitted that he didn’t remember very much. “I was out with my friends. I took something I shouldn’t have,” the young man revealed. “I made a mistake; it nearly cost me my life.”
The then-teenager ended up on life support in September of 2018. A heartbroken Sharon was warned by Brandon’s doctors that she should prepare herself to say goodbye to her son.
“The doctors were saying that his brain had been starved of so much oxygen that they didn’t know what damage was done,” she added.
“I was holding his hand and we were told to say goodbye,” Sharon recalled. “I kept talking to him and singing to him. I said, ‘Come on, Bud, come back to me,’” the tearful mother remembered.
But after 10 days in the ICU, Brandon recovered. “It just wasn’t his time,” Sharon said.
After taking to the stage to greet the judges, the mom-son duo was asked about their backstory and if their song choice had any particular, personal meaning. The pair swapped a meaningful glance and told their story, once more, to the packed auditorium.
Judge Denise Van Outen gasped upon learning that Sharon had prepared to say goodbye to her son. But the Irish mother’s next words gave everyone comfort: “He came back to me a couple of days later,” she said. After Brandon had made a full recovery, the pair started singing together again.
But tears were not enough for host Lucy. She slowly descended the stairs and made a beeline for a very important, highly coveted buzzer. The judges’ panel lit up with anticipation, and Lucy made the Webbs’ day; she hit the golden buzzer.
Denise had praise for the singing mother and her son with his second lease on life. “I just think you are both fabulous together,” she gushed. “You can see the love shining through.”
“There really is no love in this world like a mother’s love,” judge Michelle Visage, herself a mom of two, added. “We as mothers felt your joy, your love, and your pain, all at the same time singing this song.”
Brandon and Sharon went into the semi-finals. “I’m here for a reason now,” Brandon told the backstage cameras. “I just think music is that reason; it gives me motivation to get up in the morning.”
“We’re winners today,” Sharon added, “just to be here.”
“Be careful and say no,” the singer advised, speaking to all young people who may be tempted by illegal substances. “You don’t want to go through what I did,” he warned, “so stay safe.”
Brandon and his mom, their voices in perfect harmony, planned to release an album in December of 2019.
