Marcio Donaldson is a 28-year-old man who, along with his sister, grew up in foster care. He said that his mom struggled and although she did her best, she just couldn’t save the children.

Something happened that was almost predictable because of the way that things tend to work in cycles. Marcio’s sister had a baby.

In the meantime, Marcio decided he would audition for American Idol. He was able to make it through the Hollywood round but when he was in the group performance, he ended up getting sent home.

He went home after the audition and was faced with a very difficult decision. Would he take his sister’s baby in and care for her?

The baby boy, named Rashad was being prepped for foster care. His mother just couldn’t care for him. According to Marcio, drugs were also involved in his sister’s inability to care for her son. Before taking the baby to foster care, they took him to his closest relative, which was Marcio. At that point, Marcio was given two hours to decide if he would take care of his nephew or not.

Marcio’s neighborhood was a very difficult area. There was a lot of crime, drug abuse, and other problems. His apartment was full of roaches and he lived there with his sister and mother. He hated the thought of the baby living that life.

He thought about it carefully and then made a decision that he has never regretted. He decided to take Rashad into his home and raise him as his own child.

“They came to me, they told me I only had 10 minutes to decide or he goes into the system,” Marcio said. “So I said, ‘no thank you, I’ll take him.’ I took that responsibility on because I didn’t want him growing up the same way I grew up. I want to do this for him,” Marcio said.

He said “I had no idea what I was doing, but he’s actually a real gift,” and “he’s changed my life.”

Marcio knew that he had quite a struggle in front of him. He made the decision that he would put his best foot forward and he even decided to try for American Idol again. He wanted to do it for the baby, that he now kept as his own son.

“Now I’m not only performing for me. I’m performing for my son. I want to show him what a man can really do when you step up to the plate. I want to give him a better life.”

He decided to take Rashad with him to the audition. A judge held the baby while he sang.

He gave an absolutely phenomenal performance. It was fueled with emotion and the Idle fans will not soon forget it. They provided him with something in return, The Golden Ticket.

You can see his emotion-filled performance in this video: