As his beloved brother lay silent and motionless in the hospital bed, trapped in his own body, Mark McMullan spent hours playing him their special song in the desperate hope he could hear.

One earplug in Declan’s ear, one in his own, together they listened to the powerful lyrics of the Les Miserables classic Bring Him Home – “Let him be, Let him live, Let me die”.

That universal prayer of hope became the symbol of Britain’s Got Talent semi-finalist Mark and his family’s struggle to bring the then 19-year-old Declan back to the family home from hospital after a cardiac arrest tragically left him with locked-in syndrome.

Architect Mark, now 24, from Crossgar, Co Down, Northern Ireland, explains, “Declan was my biggest fan, and that was the song I had sung in my local junior production of Les Miserables.