Life has the tendency of throwing us some major curveballs, and if we’re not super-focused, those obstacles can keep us from achieving our dreams.
But that’s not the case for Jared Watson, a high school junior from Delaware. Though he suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, a disease that affects his spinal cord and has left him in a wheelchair, his condition hasn’t altered his voice. His fellow classmates might not have known it before, but his dream of one day singing professionally became incredibly clear when he performed at his school’s talent show…
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Last year, the then-16-year-old Delmar High School student blew everyone away with his soulful voice. During the four-minute-long performance, he sits in his wheelchair and sings a stunning cover of Randy Travis’s “I Told You So,”his dad accompanying him on the guitar.
Jared dreams of landing a lucrative recording deal in Nashville, with a side career as an announcer for the Baltimore Orioles; that night, everyone in the audience instantly saw his potential to achieve those goals.
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“He’s sung for as long as I can remember, and I’ve always known he’s a really good singer. And for him to ask me to back him up, it’s a thrill for me, being his father,”Lee said in an interview after the talent show.
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And thank goodness Jared entered that talent show! After claiming third place, the performance literally changed his life. The video was shared on Facebook, prompting an invitation to sing on a local TV show and the chance to record a demo.
“I thought this was going to be an ordinary performance for me, but it turned out that this performance is changing my life,”Jared said.
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Now, he’s keeping his fingers crossed for even more exposure, thanks to the latest development in his budding career. Earlier this week, he teamed up with an Idaho songwriter to record an original song. “If all goes well, my name will be spread across the Pacific Northwest,”Jared wrote on Facebook.
Watch the video that started it all for this incredible young man, and share to encourage others to follow their dreams, no matter the obstacle!
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