Scot born without ability to breathe reaches final of song-writing contest with Yoko Ono

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Scot who was born without the ability to breathe naturally and underwent almost 100 operations into his teens has reached the final of a global songwriting contest, spearheaded by Yoko Ono.

Brodie Brown, 18, from Stirling, was born with a rare condition called lymphangioma or cystic hygroma. He was unable to go to school due to his condition and suffered a psychotic break when he was 14, which led to him being sectioned.

But after chart stars The Fratellis heard his plight, they sent him a bass guitar for his 15th birthday and the teenager began writing songs to take his mind off thoughts of suicide.He is now a finalist in the £20,000 The John Lennon Songwriter Contest Song of the Year category, having just won the prestigious Best Rock Song prize for his track, Monsters.The award has a judging panel that includes Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, funk legend George Clinton, soul and ska star Jimmy Cliff, Bob Weir of US rockers The Grateful Dead, Sean Paul and Natasha Bedingfield.Brodie said: “I didn’t think I’d be alive let alone winning competitions as a musician and having people like my music.“The idea that Yoko Ono is listening to my music is magic and the fact that Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of the judges because that is someone I grew up listening to.“I would never have expected to use music to find a way through the darkness when I went mental so to be recognised and awarded prizes when it is something I never thought would go anywhere is amazing.”Spending much of his childhood at Great Ormond Street Hospital, literally fighting to breathe, his family moved down to Kent to be closer and Brodie was unable to attend school.His songs are a rally-cry against the failing kids mental health system