Jonnie Peacock has turned in some stunning performances on this year’s Strictly. Watching him glide around that dancefloor with Oti Mabuse, you could easily forget that he has a prosthetic leg.
And no one is more proud of the Paralympian than his mum, Linda Green.
She vividly remembers the trauma Jonnie went through after he was diagnosed with meningitis as a five-year-old.
And in a new interview, she revealed that she was initially told by doctors that her son might DIE from the illness.
Speaking to the Mirror, she recalled how she had originally rushed him to hospital after he developed a “purplish red rash which smothered him from head to foot”.
She explained: “They were putting lines into him everywhere. They said: ‘If you have anything to say to him, you have to say it now, because we are going to put him into a coma – that’s the only way his body can fight.’
“So I went round, right next to his head, and I was stroking his hair, his lovely blond hair.
“He was so delirious, and he just said: ‘Ow.’ I said: ‘That’s right, you fight, you stop them doing that.’
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“I thought if he goes down feisty, he might have a chance. I couldn’t say goodbye. I told him I loved him and he just drifted away.”
While Jonnie survived the meningitis, the illness killed the tissues in his right leg, meaning it had to be amputated just below the knee.
Speaking of the moment the five-year-old realised his leg was gone, she said:
“He looked down and there’s a flat space where his leg was – he just screamed, absolutely screamed.”
Linda then went on to say: “He wouldn’t look at me, he told me I had given him the wrong Calpol.”
But she explained that by bedtime on the same day he was squirting her with a water pistol, which showed the resilience we now know Jonnie for.
He’s gone on to become a successful Paralympian, winning gold in the 100-metre sprint event at both the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics.
And for Linda, seeing her boy perform on the BBC dancing show is the icing on the cake.
She said: “When they put the camera on me on Strictly and I’m bawling my eyes out, I must look a right soppy mum, but that’s what flashes back to me. I don’t just have my son back – look at him, he’s just stunning.
“I’m so genuinely thankful to Strictly, not just for giving someone with a disability a chance, but the fact that I, as Jonnie’s mum, get to see him so happy.”
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Jonnie and Oti have impressed the judges with their performances on the series so far.
Tonight, they’ll be dancing the Quickstep to Stevie Wonder’s Part Time Lover. And no doubt Jonnie’s mum will be grinning from ear to ear.