In the 2020 edition of reality show ‘British got talent,’ a 14-year-old British-Pakistani girl Sirine Jahangir stole the hearts of the judges and the audience by phenomenally performing her version of Salvation by Gabrielle Aplin. What makes her more interesting than her performance an inspiring yet heartbreaking back story attached to it.
When Sirine was 5, it was discovered that she had a serious eyesight problem. When Jahangir dressed up as a pirate and covered her right eye with a patch she lost all her vision because the left eye had no vision.
It wasn’t until she turned 9 when she completely lost all the vision despite multiple treatments and injections.
“We tried everything, even having her treated in India for six weeks and injections into her eye. But we felt helpless. When she was nine, Sirine was playing a game on her iPad and holding it very close to her face as she always did,” her father recalled.
“Suddenly she came over, handed me the tablet and said she couldn’t play it anymore. That was the moment I knew her sight was gone. I took myself into another room of the house to have a cry,” he further added.
Unfortunately, all the golden buzzers for this year were chosen after judge Alesha Dixon hit her buzzer for a comedian Nabil Abdulrashid. But this did not stop the little warrior from mesmerizing the judges and the audience with her performance.
Sirine said, “I remember watching Simon on television and thinking he looked scary. It sounds like he’s quite different now, he’s definitely nicer.”
Speaking to the judges, she said, “There was a time when I could and now I can’t. But I guess music is my vision and that’s what I love, music is my thing.”
Sirine received four yes’ from the entire judges’ panel which comprised of Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Amanda Holden, and Alesha Dixon.
