Glasgow Strictly Come Dancing star Dr Punam shares touching story about inspiring young fan

Gorka and Punam appearing on Strictly Come Dancing
-Credit: (Image: BBC)


Dr Punam Krishan, the Glasgow GP and TV personality, who is starring in this year's Strictly has shared the touching interaction she recently had with a young fan.

The 41-year-old doctor, who is dancing with professional Gorka Marquez and earned 19 points for their cha cha routine to Kylie Minogue's Love At First Sight, took time out from rehearsing to share the moment a little 10-year-old girl asked her for a photograph.

Revealing that the young girl had her book, How To Be A Doctor And Other Life Saving Jobs, and asked her to sign it, Dr Punam was delighted when she was asked an important question.

She wrote: "She told me she wants to be a doctor when she grows up but also loves ballet, which she has done since she was 4. She went on to say how I had inspired her that she could do both when she grew up. 'Of course you can', I said."

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The Strictly star added that there is so much pressure on people when they are young to pick the one thing they want to do when they are older.

She added: "Being a doctor is a vocation, a rewarding but long and tough career path. However we are often led to assume that this is all we must do for the rest of our lives.

"This little girl made me appreciate how important it is to see people at all stages of their life living out their dreams and that you can do and be more than one thing in life.

"That you don’t need to be defined by one role, one job, one sense of identity but that dreams and aspirations are a lifelong essential to keep us growing and moving forwards."

Dr Punam is a well-known face on daytime TV.
Dr Punam is a well-known face on daytime TV. -Credit:BBC

Confirming that she was proud to be an NHS GP, but added that having been a fan of Strictly for two decades she has always dreamt of appearing on it.

"Yes I was worried about judgement," Punam said. "What is a GP doing on there? But what this little girl made me question was, why hasn’t there ever been a GP on there? I had the best night yesterday on the show. It was my first live performance. I’ve still got goosebumps as I literally stepped inside my dream and I did that having trained around a busy clinical week at the practice, whilst being a mummy."

She then had a profound message for anyone thinking of doing something similar, writing: "If your heart wants to do something - just go do it. Just because someone else hasn’t done it before shouldn’t stop you from doing it and inspiring others to do it too."

You can watch Punam and her partner Gorka on Strictly Come Dancing on Saturdays on BBC One at 6.15pm.

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