{"id":1096,"date":"2011-01-28T00:22:13","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T06:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2011-01-28T00:24:25","modified_gmt":"2011-01-28T06:24:25","slug":"american-idol-contestant-moves-judges-with-story-of-his-brain-damaged-fiancee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/american-idol-contestant-moves-judges-with-story-of-his-brain-damaged-fiancee.html","title":{"rendered":"‘American Idol’ Contestant Moves Judges With Story Of His Brain-Damaged Fiancee"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

The American public in the past month has learned\u00a0a lot about\u00a0traumatic brain injury from press coverage of the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.\u00a0\u00a0And they got more insight into the heartbreak of TBI this week from, of all unlikely places, “American Idol.”<\/p>\r\n

In Milwaukee, “Idol” contestant Chris Medina drew tears, and made headlines, because of his unshaken love for his fiancee\u00a0Juliana Ramos. The audience was shown photos of Medina proposing to Juliana, a stunningly beautiful young woman with huge brown eyes.\u00a0He popped the question in the Starbucks where she worked.<\/p>\r\n

http:\/\/www.people.com\/people\/article\/0,,20461214,00.html<\/a><\/p>\r\n

But Medina\u00a0 told “Idol” judges Jennifer Lopez, Steve Tyler and Randy Jackson that two months before his wedding date, Juliana was in a car accident. She sustained serious brain damage, and was in a coma for\u00a0a month and a half.<\/p>\r\n

http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Entertainment\/american-idols-chris-medina-danny-gokey\/story?id=12776483<\/a><\/p>\r\n

“Everything changed,” Medina said, a phrase that many a TBI survivor, or their family, has said.<\/p>\r\n

Medina has not abandoned his fiancee, who is wheelchair bound now.<\/p>\r\n

“I was about to make vows just two months from the accident — through thick and thin, ’til death do us part, for better or worse,” Medina said. “What\u00a0\u00a0kid of guy\u00a0would I be if I walked out when she needed me the most?”<\/p>\r\n

For his audition Medina covered The Script’s hit “Breakeven,” and made it to the next round of the “Idol” competition in Hollywood.<\/p>\r\n

Juliana was waiting outside the room when Medina was auditioning, and the judges asked to meet her.\u00a0She is partially paralyzed, and looks like a shadow of the person in the photographs before her accident.\u00a0 But the “Idol” judges warmly greeted her, with Tyler giving her a hug.<\/p>\r\n

“I just heard your fiance sing,” Tyler told her. “He sings to you all the time. I could tell. That’s why he sings so good, because he sings to you.”<\/p>\r\n

When Medina and Juliana left the audition room, she whispered something into his ear.\u00a0Medina turned and said to the camera, “She said, ‘I knew\u00a0it.'”<\/p>\r\n

Some “Idol” fans and TV blogs are complaining that the show\u00a0was\u00a0exploiting Juliana by putting her on the air.\u00a0But she is the face of TBI, and\u00a0America should see it. Juliana should be “The American Idol.”<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American public in the past month has learned\u00a0a lot about\u00a0traumatic brain injury from press coverage of the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.\u00a0\u00a0And they got more insight into the heartbreak of TBI this week from, of all unlikely places, “American Idol.” In Milwaukee, “Idol” contestant Chris Medina drew tears, and made headlines, because of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[735,736,27],"class_list":["post-1096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-idol","tag-chris-medina","tag-traumatic-brain-injury"],"yoast_head":"\n'American Idol' Contestant Moves Judges With Story Of His Brain-Damaged Fiancee - Brain Injury Lawyer Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/waiting.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/american-idol-contestant-moves-judges-with-story-of-his-brain-damaged-fiancee.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'American Idol' Contestant Moves Judges With Story Of His Brain-Damaged Fiancee - Brain Injury Lawyer Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The American public in the past month has learned\u00a0a lot about\u00a0traumatic brain injury from press coverage of the shooting of U.S. Rep. 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