The hall was full of parents doing a great job of looking interested in sitting through yet another school show and there was a polite hush when she started to sing Dido’s White Flag. But this voice wasn’t like the others, it was different.

“It was almost like she’d been through heartache. It was crazy,” neurosurgeon and dad Dr Charlie Teo said.

“You’ve got to sit through all these terrible performances and then every now and then you sit up and you think ‘Oh my God, I’ve just heard the voice of an angel’.

“I will never forget it.”

The then 12-year-old Beatrice McBride had taken Dido’s song and made it her own.

She sang with such emotion and passion beyond her years that Dr Teo, who was there to support his daughter Alex, searched her out after the show.

He knew most of the students on the stage that day didn’t have the talent they thought, but the girl that had it was the opposite.

“It was an amazing performance, I had to tell her. When I saw her I thought she needs to know she has a talent and she’s got to nurture that talent,” he said.

The two girls went their separate ways after school at St Catherine’s in Waverley and it wasn’t until McBride walked into Dr Teo’s office more than a decade later that they reconnected.

She had just been diagnosed with a brain tumour and wanted him to save her life.

McBride went to bed one night in mid-2017 and the next morning woke up in intensive care. The 25-year-old had suffered a continuous series of seizures that had almost killed her and at first doctors weren’t sure what was the cause.

Initially they believed it was a cyst but further tests revealed the truth.

“That was a bit of a shock because it seemed to come out of nowhere,” McBride said. “Because I had a previous connection to Charlie and the family we got in contact.

“The fact that I knew I had Charlie operating on me I felt pretty confident. It was weird but I didn’t actually ever feel scared.”

McBride had a grade 2 precancerous tumour on the right side of her brain, which if left alone would have become aggressive.

In her first surgery it was removed and she needed a second operation at the beginning of last year when a follow up scan indicated something may have returned. She feared the tumour would keep coming back but thankfully, what they found in surgery was mostly scar tissue.

Her latest MRI was clear.

Becoming seriously ill was a reawakening for McBride.

Patients of Dr Teo’s often tell him they don’t start living until they get brain cancer as over the years they have succumbed to pressure and never followed their own path in life.

A silver lining even lies within a terrible diagnosis.

“When someone tells you that you have a condition that might kill you prematurely you go ‘F*** I better start doing what I wanted to do’,” Dr Teo said.

For McBride it gave her immense courage.

It felt like a second chance at life and she decided to focus on what was always most important to her: music.

She is currently working on her EP and has been told she has the performance style of Lady Gaga with the added sultriness of Lana Del Rey and the edge of Debbie Harry.

This realisation to follow her talent happened when she was still in hospital.

Soon after being operated on for the first time she started writing a song for Dr Teo and it helped her process her emotions.

The result, Breathe, pays tribute to his pioneering work and showcases her voice.

She performed it at the inaugural Charlie Teo Foundation fundraising ball last year and after a hugely positive response has hopes the song will travel. Her aim is to get someone famous to sing it and donate all the profits to the charity.

“Charlie allows us to keep breathing,” she said.

“He is prepared to operate when other surgeons won’t and give people as much chance as possible.

“He’s given me a second chance and I need to put everything I can into this and through that tell people about the charity.”

Beatrice considers herself very lucky and as a result is determined to give back in any way she can.

A major part of this is spreading the word about the annual Sydney Skinny fundraising nude swim on March 17.

Every year more than a thousand people ditch their cossies and enjoy a lap in the cool water of Sydney Harbour just off Cobblers Beach in Mosman.

The event raises money for the foundation, which has a mission to find a cure for brain cancer through innovative research.

About 1600 people are diagnosed with the disease in Australia every year and the relative five-year survival has barely changed for three decades.

In comparison breast cancer survival rates have increased by 18 per cent. It also kills more people under 40 than any other cancer.

Beatrice wants to see a change to the statistics.

“I’ve had a taste of what it is and how scary that is and living with the fear of thinking ‘Gosh what if this keeps coming back’,” she said.

“I need to make sure as many people as possible have a chance of surviving if we get something that works.”

After what she’s been through, getting nude for a swim is easy. On the day there is always a bit of nervous tension on the beach, but after getting over the initial fear she found it liberating and fun.

Smiles break out among all the swimmers as the nerves melt away.

Dr Teo is one of the swim’s biggest fans and took part for several years before his charity became the main partner last year. His four daughters, their boyfriends and their friends take part — and he is also hoping to fill a team of 25 swimmers from his own medical staff.

Being there on the day encourages him to keep up the passion as he sees people who aren’t affected by brain cancer going to such an effort to help others.

“All we are doing is asking people to get out of their comfort zone for a few minutes so they can empathise with those who are out of their comfort zone from the time of diagnosis to the time of death. And it’s not a big ask,” Dr Teo said.

“Not only will they feel good about themselves, it will also get brain cancer patients to feel good that others are caring for them and doing something for them.”

Sign up at sydneyskinny.com.au . To hear Beatrice’s music and buy one of her fundraising T-shirts or tote bags go to beatricemcbride.com.

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