As a youngster, Brian was exactly as he is now: full of energy, always running around doing sports, and being the big ham and comedian that we now know and love. But things took a turn for the worst in his happy little world when, at the age of 5, he was diagnosed with a fatal disease. Here's Brian's very own account of what he had to go through...

  "I was born with a heart murmur and I have a hole in my heart; they call it a staph infection. I went through the first five years of my life without knowing I had this heart murmur. The way it happened was...

    One day when I was five I was riding my Big Wheel down the street and I hit this curb and kind of flipped over and skinned my knee. That's where the infection set in, (but no-one knew it at the time.) When I got my Big Wheel home, I got a cookie and a kiss from my mom and I was fine. Then about two weeks later I had an accident over at my grandfather's house: I slipped and fell on the  concrete and kind of knocked my head really well, so my mom was worried about me having a concussion or something. That's when they took me to the hospital. During thsat last teo weeks, the infection had set in. It's a miracle that I had the accident, so they could get me to a hospital (and discover the staph infection), because other than that I was a healthy five-year-old by
appearance. I never had any disabilities; I was always able to run with the other kids. But that's when they hospitalised me for two months.

    I remember it very well. I used to dream about it, I have a lot of bad memories about it because of how unhealthy I was and how the infection had set into my blood. I was very weak and very pale. I just didn't have any strength. I would have to be pushed around in a wheelchair. Eventually I was able to push my little IV and walk up and down the hallways."

    The time that Brian spent in hospital must have been a very frughtening experinece, being just a little boy and all. Here is what he recalls...

  "I remember the doctors telling me it was really bad and not to be scared of dying. Later they told me that scientifically I'd no chance of living. I spent two months in hospital that time.

    I had a temperature of 107 which can normally leave you with brian damage. The doctors were so desperate to lower my temperature that they lay me down in a bath of ice with only my underwear on, then put me back in bed without any covers.
 
    My heart actually stopped beating at that point and I was out for about 20 seconds before they managed to start it again."

    And onto the rest of Brian's story....

  "This disease that I had is fatal and I had a zero chance of living. The doctors told my mom and dad to go ahead and make funeral arrangements because "your son is going to pass on." And my mom... I'm the baby of the family, and it was so hard for her to deal with. Us being big in the church she asked for help from the church and from family, and the time went on, I was on certain medication, but nothing really could stop this infection. As time went on, however, the infection started to disappear and it went away! I thank God for that experience. I know that it was a miracle. There's no medicine that could keep me on this earth.

    I'll never forget something that my mom said when I was 10 or 11: "You know Brian, when you were in the hospital I was holding on to you for dear life, because I wanted to keep you here with me so bad... you're my baby and I needed you. I finally realised that God has different means." (She realized) that I was a blessing in her life, and she had to let me go, if it was my time. That night when she made that prayer, she gave me up. She said, "Whatever happens, happens, if it's meant to be." And from then on, I started slowly to get better and recover.

    The doctors told my mom that if I did live... I wouldn't be able to do anything. Coming from a protective family, I came out of hospital like a rampage, because I was feeling a lot better. It still took some time to get all of my strength back, doing everything that I had done in the past... being little, it didn't limit me to anything.

    My first love in sports was soccer, and soccer deals with a lot of running. We lived right behind the church, in the split level that I grew up in. Our church was fairly large and they had a whole football field. Every summer they had a little soccer camp for kids my age and a little bit younger, and I would always try and get out there and play with them. My mom and dad were very protective in letting me do certain extra curricular activites that dealt with a lot of running, thoughm any cardiovascular stuff, any stress that your heart goes under. My heart being weak at the time (my parents) were scared. They never let me play soccer, so I eventually picked up basketball and I played for the church league with all my highschool buddies. In basketball, you do as much running as in soccer, it's crazy. ever since then, I really got into it, and I never had any problems. A couple of years after I got out of the hospital, I was growing, (and my parents) slowly let me do what I wanted to do.

    Every year since then, I attended the University of Kentucky Mediacl Center just one time a year. I'd go back to the same doctors that I'd grown up with. They were still there and they would check my heart and do EKGs and CAT scans. And every year they say the hole is getting smaller!!

    Having that experience made it a closer relationship with my family, with my brother, with all my friends at church, the whole church itself, with God. Growing up with that in mind, I stuck to my guns when peer pressure came around in middle school to do what everybody's doing. Instead of going out and partying, I was always at a Wednesday church service. I'm not saying that I was the best kid in the world, because everybody had flaws. But it just made me a better person; I was more proud of what I was doing. And when the singing came along with it the older I got, the more I realized that maybe God kept me on this earth so I could use the gift that he gave me to be a singer, to be an entertainer. (Today I have no physical limitations); it's all in the past. I look back on the experiences and I've learned from the past and I've put them into everyday life. It's just an experience that you can't get rid of, that you have to turn around and use to your benefit."

    So that's the ordeal which Brian endured while he was only a little boy. To think that he was that close to death, and according to doctors had a zero chance of surviving... it makes you realize that Brian really is a blessing in all of our lives. He himself believes that his being able to overcome the odds is a present from his Guardian Angel.