“I have PTSD”: David Whelan discusses rough year after traumatic injury

David Whelan knew that he would say yes to Dancing with the Stars if the opportunity came up this year.

“I had a really tough year last year. This is the year that I’m going to say yes to things,” he tells VIP Magazine ahead of Sunday night’s show.

“I’m going to be me more. Wild Youth is my thing, but I am an individual. I have been jumping over hurdles all year, I just needed to do this for me.”

This might be a confusing statement from the lead singer of the band that represented Ireland at Eurovision last year. But unfortunately in January of 2023 he was involved in an accident that left him with a broken collarbone and “PTSD”.

This meant that he was unable to perform as Wild Youth’s singer on stage at Eurovision last year. Instead, his bandmate Conor O’Donohoe stepped into the role of frontman.

David explains: “I had a really bad accident in January of last year. I had a really bad fall, it was pretty traumatic if I’m being honest. I landed on my neck and I broke my collarbone into dust. I have a big plate along my shoulder and I have wires and ropes holding me together.

“I had two major operations between January and March, they were seven hours long. One of them was at 5am the morning we won the Eurosong. I was on rehabilitation recovery. Then we went straight into the Eurovision.”

He admits: “I didn’t get to experience the Eurovision like the guys did, I was in a lot of pain and on a lot of medication. When we came back, I had some downtime to recover. But it was really hard for me, mentally and physically, I’m the lead singer of Wild Youth and I had to take a back seat because my body was so beat up. It was hard to go through that experience in pain. It was a double whammy. This year, I just want to enjoy life.”

So when it comes to Dancing with the Stars, is there still a fear there that he could injure himself?

“I got the all-clear from my surgeon, I had four serious meetings over the course of three months,” he assures us with a smile.

“Every time he told me I was getting stronger and stronger. I had to get him to sign off on me doing this. I am in pain, I can’t lie. It’s sore every day. My surgeon gave me the all-clear, but he said that if I fall down heavy on my plate that there is a possibility that it will break.

“So I have to make sure that I can’t fall. And we’re trying to figure out how to do lifts. Me and Salome are mapping that out. Obviously, four months ago I couldn’t lift anything heavier than a cup of tea with my left arm and I couldn’t lift my arm over my head. It’s blown my mind that I’ve come this far. I’m so happy that I have been able to get over that mountain.”

That’s not an easy ask!

“I’m terrified of falling, I figured out I have PTSD. This dance, the Charleston, is all flips and lifts and tricks. Salome was trying to get me to do a backflip and I just freaked out. I’m suffering from a little bit of PTSD, which I’ve never had before in my life. I’ve never had this deep-rooted fear of falling.”

But his fear is one of the reasons why he knew that he had to do Dancing with the Stars.

“I have to get over that. But it’s all good, this is what I want to do. When you suffer you grow. I feel so strong now, compared to what I was last year. I’m growing that’s why I wanted to do this.”