Blackburn model who became disabled after accident poses naked for ‘Cosmo’

12:30pm Wednesday 4th July 2012 in Blackburn

By Anna Mansell, Features writer

INSPIRATION Janine White in her Cosmo pose

A FIT and healthy 18-year-old, Janine White was planning her move to London to ‘follow her dream of being a dancer’, when a night out changed her life for good.

She made a last minute decision to join friends in the pub, and had only had one drink herself when she slipped on a spilt drink and fell awkwardly breaking her hip.

Ten years and several operations – including a hip replacement – later, Janine has two 30cm scars and lumpy scar tissue on her right thigh, cannot work, has been wheelchair bound and still
struggles to get around relying on a stick.

Now 28, she has come to terms with her disability and will be one of ‘24 women who dare to bare’ in the August edition of Cosmopolitan magazine when it hits the shelves tomorrow.

“When Cosmo approached me, through a modelling website I was registered with where my scars were mentioned, I thought ‘Why not?’ “If I can help one woman come to terms with scarring then it’s been
worth getting involved.

“I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the photo shoot; it was really liberating. I walked out and felt like I can finally accept myself for who I am and what is on my body.

“I’ve not yet seen the photos, but I’m not fussy what they look like if they raise awareness.”

Janine, from Brownhill, Blackburn, admits it took several years after her accident to start coming to terms with her disability.

It was on holiday with her mum in 2006 when, tired of people’s staring at her hobbling, she found the confidence to throw aside her cover-up sarong.

“I began to see my scars as tattoos with a better story,” she said.

“They’re the visual reminder that, no matter what life throws at me, I have the strength to get through it, and I hope that one day I’ll be able to get around without a stick.

“It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself, but I came to realise that doesn’t get you anywhere.

“I have been dealt this hand and everything happens for a reason, so maybe I was never meant to be a dancer.

Janine is determined for her experiences to have a positive outcome now, and has one more year of a degree on psychology and health to complete at Blackburn University Centre, after which she hopes
to study a masters degree in clinical psychology – with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) her area of special interest.

Ten years ago, immediately after her accident, people weren’t even aware of the condition.

Now, it’s most commonly recognised as something associated with the horrors of warfare.

“I struggled with the psychological side of what happened to me,” she said.

“When you hear of PTSD, you think of soldiers losing limbs.

“It took me years to be diagnosed with PTSD; but I knew I shouldn’t still be getting nightmares and be afraid of the rain.

“I want to make people more aware of it, away from the heavy links with war zones.”

Comment now! Register or sign in below.

Or