Three terminally ill brothers had their dreams come true when they met Simon Cowell at X Factor studios.
Roscommon boys Archie, nine, and twins George and Isaac Naughton, five, met Simon and fellow judge Cheryl Fernandez-Versini backstage at the ITV talent show after Simon personally asked them over to watch the show in London.
Simon Cowell presented their mum Paula with an award via video link at the 'Pride of Ireland" awards. And invited the family to join him for the X Factor - a gesture which came as a huge surprise to Paula.
The boys were all diagnosed with Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy in 2012 - an untreatable neuromuscular disease with which sufferers are unlikely to live past their early twenties.
In an effort to fund the boys’ treatment and try to find a cure for the cruel condition, their parents, nurses Paula and Padraic, set up a charity called Join Our Boys.
The organisation has raised €850,000 since the couple set it up just over a year ago, with Paula’s extraordinary work recognised at this year’s Irish Mirror Pride Of Ireland Awards.
Paula told The Mirror “It was great. Archie is a big Simon Cowell fan - he calls him ‘cool Simon’ so he was very excited about the whole thing,”
“Simon’s such a genuine, nice man. We also met his partner Lauren and little boy Eric.
“He kept his word and that was really nice - for someone like him to remember us meant a lot.”
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