Watch video, DWTS' Winner, J.R. Martinez, Inspires Wounded Veterans, Burn Victims To Proudly Bear Scars

Watch video, DWTS' Winner, J.R. Martinez, Inspires Wounded Veterans, Burn Victims To Proudly Bear Scars

I think J.R. has made an incredibly bold statement to the world, and especially to wounded warriors, that no matter what happens, you can overcome it," military psychologist Tony Franklin told the Leaf Chronicle.

Martinez had every excuse to shy away from the spotlight and just give up hope.

When Martinez's Humvee truck ran over a landmine in Iraq when he was 19, he suffered a coma and intense burns on more than 40 percent of his body. He spent more than two years in the hospital and underwent 33 surgeries, which included painful skin grafts and tissue expansions.

The veteran told the Houston Chronicle that he would cry and yell, "Why are you doing this to me? I don’t even know you!" when the hospital staff scrubbed dead skin off his body.

Despite the agony and his disfigurement, Martinez decided to show burn victims that they can proudly bear their scars.

"He would visit other soldiers, other patients. He wasn't afraid to talk about what happened," Maj. David Admire, an occupational therapist at Blanchfield Army Community Hospital told the Leaf Chronicle. "He wasn’t afraid to show his face, which was huge."