While some may watch frustrated housewives working out their unreal dramas, others prefer their TV fixes on Mondays and Tuesdays with “dancing stars.”
Throughout last year’s “Dancing With The Stars” winner J.R. Martinez was a fan favorite with his remarkable talents. And then there was his all-too-real-life story. Raised by a single mom, he had a promising future playing football in high school and college until an injury ended that plan. Seeing a commercial, he signed up for the Army and was assigned to Iraq in 2003. Then his Humvee hit a land mine and he suffered burns over 40% of his body, resulting in his spending 34 months at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio and undergoing 33 cosmetic and skin-graft surgeries.
It was during this recovery that he found his calling. A nurse asked him to speak to another burn patient. Evidently the patient had been overwhelmed at seeing his body for the first time. In less than an hour of speaking with J.R., the patient “opened the curtain letting light into his room” and J.R. discovered he could help others.
It is this very inspiration that will be on hand for his presentation at next Monday’s Nexus Spring Luncheon at the Hilton Anatole’s Khmer Pavilion. Chairs Misty Smathers and Carole Steele have arranged to have Pat Smith, Willa Ford and Mike Modano serve as honorary chairs. Be prepared for a remarkable talk by a true star of the real world.
Photo courtesy of Nexus Recovery Center
yvonne says
Looking forward to his remarkable story.. what a will he has. and Nexus does amazing thing.. See you there.