In the 2019 America’s Got Talent season, Young violinist Tyler Butler-Figueroa, took the stage like a storm. His story and video has inspired people all over the world.

Tyler’s version of Kelly Clarkson’s ‘Stronger’ earned him Simon Cowell’s coveted Golden Buzzer and a standing ovation with everyone in the audience.

Tyler was diagnosed with leukaemia and age 4 1/2, but he beat it!  After being bullied by classmates at his school in North Carolina, Tyler picked up the violin.

Before his first AGT audition, Tyler said: “I just didn’t want to be the kid with cancer. So now, I’m the kid who plays the violin.”

 

 

 

After his performance on the Americas Got Talent Stage, Simon Cowell tweeted: “I am always amazed every year who we meet on our Shows. And I would love you to meet Tyler and this is his Golden Buzzer moment.”

 

 

Who is Tyler Butler-Figueroa?

 

Tyler is an 11-year-old fifth-grader at Walnut Creek Elementary in North Carolina. He started playing taking violin lessons when he was seven and a half years old.

“I wanted to start playing the violin because I was being bullied in school,” Tyler said in his first audition for America’s Got Talent. “It’s because I had cancer & I almost died.”

“The doctors treated me with chemotherapy. When I lost my hair, I was really sad and embarrassed at the same time to go to school. They used to make fun of me and laugh at me because I was different. They would spread rumours to say that my cancer was contagious, and all the other kids wanted to stay away from me,” Tyler says.

One day, Tyler saw a flyer at his school and it said, ‘After school programme – free violin lessons.’ He told his mom he wanted to take lessons, and she was surprised.

“Once he started that class, it was like a sunshine. He was just full of energy and happy. I was like, ‘I’ve got my son back.’” says his mom.

Tyler, who has been in remission for four years now, received a standing ovation from the audience and four judges after his first Amercia’s got Talent competition and he has been on an up swing ever since.

 

“You are an extraordinary young man. We hear too many stories about people being bullied, but I can tell you one thing: most people are bullied because they’re better than the people who bully them,” Cowell told Tyler.  Tyler’s story has inspired many people from around the world, maybe there is a young musician or cancer survivor that you should share this article with.