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'The Voice' finalist Angela Shanny was terrified of falling over while walking down the steps onto the stage during the battle round of the show due to balance problems caused by hydrocephalus.
Angela, who is on Brian Kennedy's team, was born with the condition and had a shunt inserted to stop the fluid from building up on her brain.
She said: "I was born with that. It's fluid on the brain and I have a shunt in. The fact that I'm even where I am today, I'm just absolutely delighted.
"It doesn't really affect me, only my balance. In the battles I had to walk down the steps and thought - Oh God I'm going to break my leg".
"I had the shoes off and Brian Kennedy said 'Leave the high heels on' and I was like 'Oh Jesus'. That was my biggest fear on the battles night, just getting down the steps. I dreaded that. I was having sleepless nights up to that night. I made it down the steps anyway thank God."
Angela was chosen by Brian in last weekend's episode and in the coming weeks fans of the show will see her take part in the battles sing-off round with another member of his team to win a place in the live finals. The mum-of-two from Navan, Co Meath didn't tell the Voice team about her condition as she didn't want to be treated differently to the other performers.
She said: "I wasn't going to start giving them a sob story. I didn't want to seem different from anyone else. Not a word about it.
"When I was 14 I had brain surgery, the thing was blocked. I was meant to go on Pat Kenny's show and I missed out on that. As it turns out I was in Temple Street having the brain surgery."
Angela, 30, was left devastated last year when she was dropped from the X Factor auditions at the last minute after successfully making her way through the audition process. She was due to sing for the judges in Liverpool but is now glad that it didn't happen as she is enjoying every minute of her experience on The Voice of Ireland.
She said: "I'm glad it happened because I wouldn't have got on The Voice. You never know I might go back to the X Factor someday if things don't work out. I wouldn't be one to give up too easily on stuff.
"I'm having a great time on the show and I'm enjoying every bit of it. I never thought I'd see the day. It's great.
"I've been singing a long time, since I was a child. I want to get a record contract. Instead of doing Beyonce stuff I would like to do songs that were written for me.
"If I was known around Ireland that would be enough for me. I just want to sing."