Find Out ‘Idol’ Judge’s Connection To Formerly Paralyzed Contestant

David Francisco won our hearts with his American Idol audition on Monday night. Not only can the Tennessee native sing, but he has a positive attitude and inspiring story that we can all learn from.

Almost two years ago, Francisco was riding his bike when he was hit by a car that ran a red light. He suffered a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed and doctors told him that he would probably never walk again.

“When they told me I was paralyzed from the waist down, I thought everything was over. Music’s over. Relationships are over. I cried every single day for months,” David said. Eventually, David regained some movement in his legs and faithfully worked to regain the ability to walk. During his recovery he reconnected with the woman who would become his wife.

“During my recovery I received a letter from a friend. We reconnected through the accident. I was amazed that she didn’t seem to be fazed by the fact that I was in a wheelchair,” David said. “Being on American Idol is huge because this is the next step trying to reincorporate myself into real life. And then maybe someday I can support myself with music.”

During David’s audition, we see judge Katy Perry crying uncontrollably as he sings Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely” as his then-fiancee watched from the sidelines.

But, did you know that Katy Perry and David Francisco had met prior to his American Idol audition? Just two months before auditioning for Idol, David Katy Perry as part of a live-streamed event called Witness World Wide to promote her new record Witness. Francisco was there representing MusiCares, an organization affiliated with The Recording Academy that assists musicians in times of “financial, medical, and personal emergencies.”

A video posted to YouTube shows Francisco, Perry and country singer Kacey Musgraves jamming on a big white sofa as they sing Musgraves’ hit “Follow Your Arrow.” So, it was no surprise to Francisco that Perry recognized him when he walked into the Idol audition room.

“I can tell you that at the audition, … she recognized me, and it was pretty cool to see her again because the first time I met her was during her new album release, ‘Witness,’ and she had a bunch of guests come to this studio and would talk with them, and I was kind of representing MusiCares, a nonprofit that’s actually funded by the Grammys, and so I went in, and we hung out and talked and played a song, and it was a heck of a lot of fun, so to see her again was really cool,” Francisco told KnoxNews.

Check out David Francisco, Katy Perry and Kacey Musgraves performing together in the video below.