Ballyfermot mam to sing in Ireland’s Got Talent semi-final
By Hayden Moore
WHEN Julie McCabe made her stellar audition on Ireland’s Got Talent, it had only been a month since her son was diagnosed with Autism.
Julie’s audition hit our television screens in February when she captured the hearts of many as she opened up about her son Max’s diagnoses.
This Autism Awareness Week Julie prepares for the live shows [this weekend] and brought The Echo up to speed about how he’s been getting on since then.
Julie McCabe with her son Max (3).
“We kind of knew at 11 months because he was meeting some milestones but missing a lot as well. At the moment he’s pre-verbal, so he can’t really talk but he’s starting to do his ABC’s now and it’s just great to hear his little voice,” explained Julie.
“It is tough, like we’ve had so many ups and downs since we found out about him last year and obviously when I did my audition for the show it was very raw because we only knew a month.
“But I am starting to come around to it now. We did know that there was something but we didn’t actually know, so now that he’s been diagnosed with Autism, we’ve been able to get that knowledge to be able to help him.
“He’s come on in leaps and bounds in the last three months to be honest and everything is a celebration, when he says something or does something it is huge for us so we celebrate him.”
Julie received a standing ovation from the crowd and judges when she performed a heartfelt rendition of Adele’s ‘When We Were Young’, but the talented singer insists that she “played it safe” for the performance.
“I can perform much bigger songs than that but I knew for my audition that maybe when I walked out on stage that the big crowd and judges and all would make me too nervous, so by picking that song I kind of played it safe to make sure I could control my nerves,” she insists.
“It was madness though, my legs buckled and I couldn’t remember what the judges said to me or anything, I didn’t know what they said until I watched it on the telly.
“It’s a lot of hours and I can’t believe I’m in the semi-final, hopefully the nerves don’t get the better of me on Saturday – it’s a ballad.”
Julie lives in Leixlip with her husband Glen and three-year-old son, and despite moving to the Kildare town 11 years ago she insists that she is Ballyfermot to the core.
“We finally bought a house out there three-years-ago after renting for so long but I’m Ballyfermot through and through, like my ma and sisters and all still live in Ballyfermot so I’d spend a lot of time there.
“It’s great to be from Ballyfermot and be on the show, especially when you see the likes of Matt Dodd last year and Mary Byrne on the X Factor years ago, it’s great for the community to be getting that kind of exposure.”
