LONDON (AFP) — Doctors have warned George Sampson, the breakdancing 14-year-old who won first prize in the hit TV show Britain's Got Talent, that he could end up crippled if he continues dancing, a report in The Sun newspaper said Monday.
Sampson, who won the coveted 100,000 pound prize on Saturday for his lively performance of Singin' in the Rain, suffers from a rare condition called Scheuermanns disease, which affects developing bones in children and teenagers and can cause a curvature of the spine.
His performance, which saw him breakdancing to a jazzed-up version of song taken from the 1952 Gene Kelly musical, ends with him executing a bone-jarring flip onto his back.
Speaking to the paper, the youngster who comes from Warrington in Cheshire, said doctors have warned him he should stop breakdancing in case it leaves him permanently disabled.
The condition even caused him to go temporarily blind in one eye for two months around Christmas time, he said.
"The eye was all inflamed. Id been using Deep Heat for my sore back, so at first I just thought Id got it in my eye. But I ended up blind," he said.
"The spinal nerves were trapped and it affected my optic nerves.
"I lost all my coordination and it was really hard to dance, as I didn't have my balance. I kept bumping into everything."
Although his eyesight was restored, doctors have said he must immediately go to hospital at the first sign of any soreness in his right eye.
Despite the scare, Sampson went ahead to compete and win the talent show, and has said nothing will prevent him from performing.
"Theres no way Id ever give up dancing. Nothing would stop me," he told the paper.
The show, screened on ITV1, was watched by over 14 million people.
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