A boy and a dream, a fairly common story. A boy who grew up wanting to be a singer; who wanted to be like stars on ‘American Idol' and ‘The X Factor'.

But Brent Eyskens lost his voice at six months old.

Not to a cold, not a sore throat, no. Brent lost his voice permanently.

Now he says he can make 'noises” and that he has a loud, bubbly laugh, but that's all.

Our whole interview was electronic, digital, via email. 'There is probably no chance my voice will ever come back since the virus really damaged the part of my brain that makes me talk.”

The Welcome Bay man contracted herpes simplex, a common viral infection that presents with localised blistering that many experience as cold sores, at a young age. Now Brent is 19 and has lived the majority of his life without a voice.

'I was holding such a story in my heart and mind that I wanted to let out, and I just needed a way to get noticed, but I can't talk, so how would a person with no voice but a huge voice in his mind get noticed?”

It's not easy, says Brent, to be social without a voice. He says often in group situations it's easy for him to fade into the background, as he can only text so fast.

'I'm usually in the background, unless me and a friend are alone.”

Growing up without one, Brent has spent plenty of time trying different devices to give him a voice.

'When I was young, I didn't have anything to talk with, so I had this voice in my head, but not on the outside.”

He used an iPod Touch for part of high school, before upgrading to an iPhone, which opened Brent up to texting.

And his iPhone was a great help to him during high school. 'If there was anything wrong, I could text my teacher aide at school or a friend.”

'I am always smiling, but secretly in my heart it's a different story than on the outside where I seem happy and smiling.”

He began studying animal care at polytechnic in 2015 and met friend Harley, who told Brent to follow his dream of singing – by writing.

'He suggested I could still write songs, so one day, I got some cool ideas of song lyrics in my mind, then I started to write ‘Breaking My Heart'.”

'I was thinking about how hard my life has been, and how hard it is to not talk and how it has been breaking my heart ever since I was young; and that was where my song writing started.”

'My inspiration to my song writing is my life, my heart, my past, my best friends that always have been there for me and don't ignore me, and also my love for music.”

Once Brent finished the lyrics he took it to some musical friends and they helped him make it into a recordable song.

Another friend stepped up and volunteered to sing Brent's song, to be his voice.

'Hearing him sing it was just so amazing and I knew this is how I will get my voice out to the world eventually. It almost brought tears to my eyes.”

'I just can't wait to see what will happen in the future, because this what I have been waiting for; to let my voice out in the world.”

'I feel like my life has turned from a hard life into the best life I could ever ask for, because this is a dream come true for me.”