X Factor 2016: Rebekah Ryan Opens Up About Son's Tragic Death

X Factor returned to our screens on Saturday night and just two episodes in we have already had two heartbreaking sob stories that have left viewers crying into their sofas.

Following Christian Burrows emotional song about his baby brother Nathan, who passed away from cot death at the age of three months, last night’s episode introduced us to Rebekah Ryan, a 40-year-old single mum from Tamworth who tragically lost her son when he was just three years old.

Judge Sharon Osbourne was left in tears when Rebekah sang ‘Angel’ by Sarah McLachlan, with the hopeful previously being signed to a record label when she was in her late teens before her dream career fell through.

Now, after sailing through to the next stage of the X Factor competition, Rebekah has opened up about the death of her little boy, Ethan, explaining to Birmingham Mail that he had been born with a rare brain disease after both her and her ex-husband passed on genetic faults.

Little Ethan was born with Sandhoff Syndrome and was blind, unable to speak and unable to walk.

Doctors didn’t think that Ethan would make it past his second birthday but he bravely defied all odds and fought until he was three and a half years old, passing away in July 2002.

Rebekah’s family released 100 balloons with Ethan’s name on them into the air at his funeral, and fourteen years later Rebekah lives with her parents and her seven-year-old son, Seb.

Praising the hopeful for her incredible audition, an emotional Sharon gushed: “You gave a very passionate performance. You came from a place of emotion. And when you started to tell your story… You’re going to start me off.”

Simon Cowell added: “I felt every word of that. You’re a fighter. What you told me was very emotional. Every step of the way we were with you.”