Edinburgh’s Got Talent: Singing eased my pain after injury

By DAWN MORRISON
Published on 05/10/2012 13:29

WHEN dance fanatic Claire Anderson suffered a severe break in one of her legs, she refused to let her dreams of performing come to an end.

The 16-year-old, from Gilberstoun, turned to singing to ease the pain she endured – and now she is bidding to become the latest winner of Edinburgh’s Got Talent.

Claire, who attends the Gie it Laldy, a performance school set up by Joseph star Keith Jack, stormed through to the final of Edinburgh’s Got Talent with her own version of Skyscraper by Demi Lovato.

But her success came in spite of having a serious accident at 13 years old in which she broke her leg on a trampoline.

As a result of the accident, Claire’s knee was dislocated, the artery was severed in the back of her knee – cutting the blood flow to her foot – and the bone broken.

In the first 72 hours, doctors did not if know if they would be able to save her leg. Claire spent weeks in hospital, before having to go back for skin grafts and in the months ahead, she had to use a wheelchair and crutches.

When she finally went back to Gie it Laldy, Claire had found her voice.

She said: “I loved dancing, but after the accident I couldn’t do it, so I started singing instead.

“I used to get this terrible nerve pain and the only thing that would take my mind off it was singing.”

Claire, an S5 pupil at Portobello High School, lives with her mum Susan, dad Andy, 47 and little brother Michael, aged 13.

Susan, 46, said: “Claire has been to hell and back.

“But despite all that she has taken a negative and turned it into a positive.

“When she decided she was going to sing Skyscraper she sat down at the piano and just plonked away – she had never had a piano lesson in her life before.

“She’s such a lovely natured girl.

Despite having butterflies about appearing at the Festival Theatre, Claire said: “It’s going to be a great experience, another thing that will help my confidence and that I can say I have done.

“I’m so nervous about performing on the night, but I’m going to try and have some fun!”