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Dynamo Says His Crohn's Disease Is 'Nothing' Compared To Refugee Children

Dynamo Says His Crohn's Disease Is 'Nothing' Compared To Refugee Children

The magician also told us: "I'm a survivor, so I wouldn't count me out just yet". That's what we like to hear.

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

Dynamo has hinted that he'll change the way he performs magic after developing arthritis as a result of his Crohn's disease but says his health problems do not come close to the pain being experienced by refugees.

The famous magician's career has been put on the back burner as he recuperates and tries to get back to 'full health'.

The 35-year-old revealed the condition has left him with arthritis in his hands, meaning he is unable to perform many of the tricks we love.

But he told LADbible: "I'm still doing everything in my power to get myself back to full health. I'm working on new magic.

"The arthritis is kind of affecting my body in ways that I wouldn't like it to but I'm working on other ways to perform magic.

"If my hands don't get back to full strength then I'm working on magic that doesn't require the dexterity of my hands to be accomplished.

"In my shows I've done magic using mind reading and using different things. I adapt to different situations and I'm a survivor so I wouldn't count me out just yet.

"Hopefully my next interview I'll be doing some magic for you. We'll see."

The condition, which has caused him to gain two stone, could affect his magic career but he's managing to keep himself busy in an attempt to 'change the world'.

The Bradford illusionist spoke to us about his new film, 72 Hours, which focuses on his journey to meet Syrian refugee children, who have been left out of school and let down by world leaders.

And jokingly, the magic man said: "The governments promise lots of stuff and don't always deliver."

Dynamo, who's real name is Steven Frayne, travelled to Lebanon to discover the impact of broken promises.

He explained that two years ago world leaders pledged to get every refugee child into education by the summer of 2017.

The film is part of the #YouPromised campaign by children's charity, Theirworld.

In the film, Dynamo explains how he was inspired to find out more about the education crisis that has left more than 680,000 Syrian refugee children still out of school.


He said: "LADbible were the first people to share the fact about my illness and my current situation that I'm dealing with.

"But being out in Lebanon totally puts it into perspective, what I'm going through is nothing compared to what these children have to go through everyday.

"It helps focus my mind on doing something for them rather than focusing on myself.

"I wasn't able to do anything at the time. I've got more free time because I'm recuperating, and getting myself better, so I thought it's a good time to go to Lebanon.

"I knew I didn't have to worry about going out there and performing magic or anything. I could just go out there and try and do something for the greater good.

"When I was out there I was trying to keep a brave face for the kids, a lot of the conversations were quite deep.

"You ask a child what they look forward to in life and some of them were literally saying 'nothing'. They said 'the only thing guaranteed in our lives is that we're going to die'.

"You don't know how to respond to that sort of stuff.

"I was like the Pied Piper, all the kids were following me round. I did little bits of magic for them and they were super excited.

YouTube/Dynamo

"They are just humans like me and you, some of these people were doctors, had good jobs, money and were giving their family a good life and had to leave all of that for safety and not out of choice.

"I think sometimes as humans because we're not out there I think we sometimes lose the humanitarian side of it. We forget that these are people who haven't had a choice. It's just unfortunately due to geography that they were born in Syria and this is all kicking off there."

Dynamo is calling on his 10 million social media followers to share the emotional film and put pressure on world leaders to keep their promise by signing a petition.

He added: "I'm hoping all of these children will get into education by the end of the year. That would be the ultimate dream because they were made a promise.

"We just need the funding that was already promised, it's not like we're asking for more money. We're asking for money they've already told us they were going to give.

"When Syria is in a state where people will be in a position to go back and rebuild it from being destroyed in the conflict over the last eight years, these are the children who are going to be young adults by that point.

"They are the future lawyers, the future architects, the future doctors. Those that are going to actually rebuild the city, if they've got no real education they are not going to be prepared for the real world."

PA

He explained that he was in real danger in Lebanon and still can't disclose names of certain groups, as he said: "There were times when certain militia group were potentially going to be in the areas we were filming in so we had to leave because of that.

"It can get quite dangerous and they're not necessarily afraid of confrontation if you've seen stuff that they have put out there.

"I can't even say the name of the group because that could put me as a target.

"Obviously back home in England everywhere has areas that are dangerous but it's a different type of danger they've got out there. It's crazy.

"A lot of the parents, the main reason they travel to different places is because they want to get their children into education. They understand that in the future it's their children's lives that need to be improved.

"Every parent would try and do that for their children. We do it ourselves, I've got so many friends who have got kids and they're talking about moving house and I'm saying why don't you live there.

"They will say no because schools aren't good there, they plan their life around where their children can get education.

"The families that fled Syria are the same as any of us. Their children deserve the same treatment."

Twitter/@Dynamomagician

Next week, world leaders will meet again, at the second Supporting Syria and the Region conference in Brussels, and Dynamo will be joining them.

He told LADbible: "In 72 hours they might say they will do this or that. I need to follow it through and make sure the stuff does get done.

"It's something that going to affect and change these people's lives forever.

"They could get recruited by a militia group and taught a different way to live their life which is not what we want in this world.

"Children are getting put into forced marriages and child marriage which is wrong on all counts. Some of them end up just homeless.

"It's our fault if this happens. We have a chance to do something about it."

Featured Image Credit: Twitter/@Dynamomagician/Youtube/Dynamo

Topics: Viral, Film, Celebrity, Inspirational, Interesting, Community, UK, Syria, Politics