A contestant on “American Idol” has left the show’s press tour in order to tend to his newborn son during a life-threatening diagnosis. Country singer Christian Brown had earned a Golden Ticket to attend the show’s Hollywood Round, where he was ultimately cut. However, he was granted the opportunity to join the show’s press tour, which would last for several months and could offer a potential opportunity for stardom. However, when his newborn son, Isaiah, was born with a life-threatening heart condition, Brown quickly decided to leave the tour behind.

Isaiah had been born four days before Brown’s audition. While Brown was attending the tour, doctors back home came up with a concerning diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta, a congenital narrowing of the aorta. The condition increases blood pressure in the upper body while blood flow is restricted in the lower half of the body. It’s a serious condition that requires surgery. If left untreated, Christian’s wife, Brenda Brown, painted a bleak picture of what Isaiah’s future could be. “He has to have this fix, or down the road he could have a heart attack or something happen to him,” she said.

The opportunity of the press tour is one that Brown has worked towards his whole life. His father, Marty Brown, wrote songs for a living. Of the over 224,000 people that auditioned, Christian was one of the roughly 258 people who made it to audition before the judges. He performed one of his dad’s own songs while his father stood beside him. Yet, when it came to fame or family, for Christian it wasn’t even a choice. “If I had a record deal sitting in front of my face and my son in the other hand, I’d choose my son any time over anything,” he said. He and his wife drove two hours from their home in Franklin, Kentucky to Louisville for Isaiah’s surgery. As Christian and his wife stay by their young son’s side during his recovery, he has found another source of inspiration. “He makes me want to write again,” said Christian. “He’s bringing the words back to the music. I know how my dad felt back then. I do now.” Christian intends to return to Nashville after Isaiah’s recovery, with the promise of another opportunity awaiting him.