Simon Cowell saves a contestant's life in X-Factor

Friday, September 28, 2007

London (ANI): Simon Cowell ended up saving the life of a 'X Factor" hopeful"s after he told her that she had a strange rasp in her voice, prompting her to go see a doctor, who told her that she had the potentially fatal lung disease bronchiectasis. Cowell, who is known for his mean remarks, told Jacqui Gray that she sounded like she was choking and asked her to visit a doctor.

"You have a very odd-sounding voice," the Mirror quoted Cowell, as telling Gray. "Something happens to your throat when you sing. It is quite raspy. "It sounds as if you have someone else in there, like you were choking on something." The mum of two took his advice seriously and visited a doctor who diagnosed the disease. Now, Gary has thanked both Cowell and Osbourne for saving her life.

“I want to thank them both. I may not have got through X Factor but they gave me something much more important than that...they really did save my life," Gray said. "I have been singing since I was a kid but that had never been pointed out to me before. "After the show my mum said. 'It is not the best I have heard you sing'. But nobody spotted the problem. I thought I was suffering from a chest infection or swollen glands.

"I had been to the doctor so often his wife must have thought we were having an affair". He sent me to see a consultant at Sunderland General Hospital. A scan showed a shadow on my lungs."I was diagnosed with bronchiectasis and told if I had not got it seen to, it could have killed me." Now, Gray has planned to give the contest another chance. “I have got the forms. I just love singing," she said.