The blast waltz
JJ will dance through the pain as shrapnel wound in leg is infected
SUPERHERO Strictly star JJ Chalmers has revealed he has been dancing through pain in his leg caused by an infected shrapnel wound.
The injury, suffered when he was caught in a bomb blast while serving in the Marines in Afghanistan, became infected shortly before the show began.
JJ, 33, has been managing the pain, but it flared up this week as he and Amy Dowden, 30, practised their Viennese Waltz.
JJ told the Mirror he was determined to still make the dancef loor this weekend.
He said: “Whilst there’s a level of pain and sensitivity with it, it’s not anything I’m not used to.
“These are just the genuine sideeffects of being alive, that’s the simplest way I can put it, enduring some level of pain.
“Until it gets to, you know, an unbearable point or a really discomforting point, I’m not going to allow it to stop me doing what I love doing. And right now that’s dancing.
“But on the flip side, it might seem quite alarming to people that I’ve done most of this competition with an infection in my leg, but that’s just the reality of what happens with this particular piece of shrapnel until they remove it.”
JJ, who is dancing to Lauren Daigle song Rescue this weekend, was severely injured in 2011, in a bomb blast that killed two of his comrades.
As well as losing two fingers, JJ had a crushed eye socket, broken neck and burst ear drums. He had 30 operations including facial reconstruction and had to learn to walk again.
He has previously spoken about his horrific injuries.
He said: “I woke up a week later in hospital, in Birmingham.
“My hands were smashed up, my arm was sewn into my stomach and I felt like I would never walk again.
“I couldn’t imagine going home. When I finally did, I had no idea how to live.”
But in 2014, he took part in the Invictus Games and later hosted Channel 4’s coverage of the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.
While there is a level of pain & sensitivity with it, it is nothing I’m not used to
JJ CHALMERS ON DANCING WITH INFECTED LEG WOUND