It brought judge Bruno Tonioli to open tears and propelled blind husband and wife, Denise and Stefan into this week’s Britain’s Got Talent semi-finals. But as soprano Denise Leigh’s voice soared through Climb Ev’ry Mountain from the Sound of Music, Britain had no idea just how much the song meant to her and pianist husband, Stefan Andrusyschyn. The BGT favourites from Stoke-on-Trent have been facing uphill battles from birth.
Stefan, 40, was born without eyes. “Basically something happened while I was developing, which stopped the growth of one of my eyes at a very early stage and resulted in me having no eye in the other socket,” he says. “I am literally completely blind.
I don’t even have perception. So I am the real deal!” “Beats me hands down,” Denise, 53, grins. “We’re even competitive about how blind we are!” She was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare group of diseases that affect the retina.
”I was born with quite a lot of vision,” she says. “It sort of took a nosedive when I went through puberty, and then another nosedive every time I had a baby. And then when I had chemo two years ago, it just took the rest of it basically.
” The judges and audience were completely blown away ( Image: ITV) Diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2021, she lost a chunk of her ‘favourite’ left breast, “Thelma”. The right one is “Louise”, she told the BGT audience to thumping applause. “As I was going through cancer treatment, Climb Ev.