We first heard Chris Medina's story in the Milwaukee auditions of American Idol Season 10.Two years ago, Chris thought he was the luckiest person in the world when his beautiful girlfriend Juliana Ramos accepted his proposal. Then even as the couple were making plans for their wedding, disaster struck.One night in October 2009 when Juliana was driving home from work at about 3.30 am she was involved in a serious accident in which she became almost paralysed and severely brain damaged.Chris was devastated but the loyal 27 year old decided to stick by Juliana. He became her caretaker and devoted his life to looking after her.When Chris decided to try out for the American Idol auditions, the judges were impressed with his singing talent and decides to send him to Hollywood for the next stage of the competition.They were so moved by his story that they invited him to bring his fiance to the stage to meet them. All the judges had tears in their eyes as Chris proudly wheeled in his fiance on her wheel chair. They were shocked to see how this once beautiful, vibrant girl had been practically reduced to a vegetable.
During Hollywood week, this talented singer managed to make it to the top 40. But when the time came for the top 24 to be announced the judges were forced to cut him from the competition because there were so many other great singers who had given consistently good performances. Jennifer Lopez was heartbroken when she had to tell Chris that he had not made the cut.It just seemed so unfair that this young man who was coping with so much tragedy in life had missed this one opportunity to make things better..Chris received the news calmly but later Jennifer burst into tears and said that she was not sure if she could continue with the pressure of delivering bad news to the contestants.
But every cloud has a silver lining. After he got knocked out of the show, this unassuming young man managed to get quite a lot of publicity. His moving story was even picked up by The Tonight Show host Jay Leno. Jay interviewed him and got him to perform on the show. Chris sang a song dedicated to his fiance and Jay Leno announced that this song was available on I-Tunes and the proceeds of the sale would go towards providing treatment for Juliana. Chris has also opened a website which accepts donations for her medical care.
So despite the fact that Chris did not make it to the top 24 in American Idol, the world was able to share his story and in addition to the good wishes from the public, he was able to organise some much needed financial support to help him look after Juliana.
But every cloud has a silver lining. After he got knocked out of the show, this unassuming young man managed to get quite a lot of publicity. His moving story was even picked up by The Tonight Show host Jay Leno. Jay interviewed him and got him to perform on the show. Chris sang a song dedicated to his fiance and Jay Leno announced that this song was available on I-Tunes and the proceeds of the sale would go towards providing treatment for Juliana. Chris has also opened a website which accepts donations for her medical care.
So despite the fact that Chris did not make it to the top 24 in American Idol, the world was able to share his story and in addition to the good wishes from the public, he was able to organise some much needed financial support to help him look after Juliana.
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