'X Factor' Contestant Carlos Guevara: Music is My Therapy
X Factor Contestant Carlos Guevara touched the hearts of many people when he auditioned for the popular TV series. Last year, he could barely make it through a day of classes because of his Tourette syndrome, PEOPLE reported.
"At the beginning of my freshman year I was on the football team and was elected vice president of the entire school. It seemed like my life was perfect but then all of a sudden it was like a storm," Guevara said. When he was 12, he was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder. He is now 16 years old and was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome.
"On bad days, I looked like a broken robot. I didn't have command of my own body."
Because of his outbursts, it has affected his life. He was asked to leave his high school. He also did not attend anymore the Sunday services at the church where his father is a pastor. However, he was still determined to audition for the X Factor.
"I was on a horrible roller coaster ride. The only thing that made me feel better was music because it was the only thing that didn't make me tic," he said.
"I made it my goal to audition so I worked from December up until May on getting myself better finding the right medicines and taking time to make sure that everything was okay in my life and just practicing and learning all the music I could."
He sang "Gravity" by John Mayer. All the panel of judges commended his performance.
"The audition day was terrifying because you are going up in front of four superstars," Guevara says. "But I felt like my music experience was really born out of struggle and out of pure love of music."