ROCKSTAR turned reverend Justin Lunniss cheated death after he suffered an electric shock from his guitar as a teenager.

It was to mark the end of life as he knew it but the beginning of a new life, new experiences and a new purpose.

Justin Lunniss was in a family band called Young Lunniss Family when he was 16 when he was seriously injured.

He was practicing for an afternoon gig in his room but due to a fault in his second-hand amp, he suffered a severe electric shock which left him comatose and paralysed.

He said: “I was playing a guitar and it felt as someone had hit me in the back, the electricity grabbed me.

“The room had a blue hue, it was just like in a film.”

Justin, who was a budding musician, was rushed to hospital but he does not remember much of what happened next.

He was left with the after effects of the shock.

The guitar string burnt into his right hand which had to be dressed every day and treated for six months.

He said: “It was rather that than removing a rather large portion of flesh which would have made my right hand pretty useless as a guitarist.

“I was always more worried about my hands.

“The electrical current made an exit out of my left hand leaving the muscles weak.”

He added: “It was just one white coat after another at the hospital, people here just don’t know how to handle it.

“All the students were taking photos.”

Justin thought he was recovering at a stable rate but after six months he started getting the shakes and at one point he fell into a coma.

Neurologists had told him his brain had suffered enough and his body was starting to give up.

But Justin survived although a couple of years after the accident,he lost the use of his legs completely.

He is now dependent on a wheelchair.

“I was finding it really hard to walk properly,” he said.

“I would go all dizzy and one day my legs just gave way.”

In 1993, he spent six months in rehabilitation in Gloucestershire but he will never fully recover the effects of the electric shock.

Justin, who is now 46, was told it was a miracle he survived but he did and he is sharing his inspirational story with the public to give hope to others.

In 2005, Justin went to a lightning strike and electric shock survivors conference in Tennessee to find out more about what had happened to him.

It featured top neurologists and Justin reported back on what he had heard to doctors back in the UK.

He said: “Doctors thought I had Multiple Sclerosis and there hasn’t been any treatment besides physiotherapy.

“I have never had a proper diagnosis so I just get on with my life.”

Despite all he has been through, Justin’s love for music and faith in life has kept him strong.

Even after the trauma of the accident he continued to play the guitar.

He said he wanted to join the church after “feeling something spiritual”.

He said: “After being in the music industry for a few years I felt somehow lost, I didn’t yearn for fame and fortune that so many have strived for, I felt a need for something more spiritual.

“I always thought of the time when I was laying on the floor not able to move a muscle, hearing being pronounced dead. What I then felt was a release from death.

“I can’t tell you that I had a near death experience, I didn’t see a light or a pretty garden or Jesus but just plain darkness blacker then you could imagine.

“It was then I realised I had been saved for a purpose.”

He joined the Methodist Church in Wimpole Road and became a preacher.

In 2003, he got married and a year later had a daughter Justina, who is now 12.

Justin still kept up his music, setting up a teaching school and recording studio in East Bergholt.

He said: “I then visited the congregational church in Wivenhoe to hire it for a concert.

“I liked it so visited on a Sunday for a while and was asked to preach.

“Then I became an assistant pastor.

“A few years on I collapsed in the senior pastor’s house and from there in my health deteriorated, what I didn’t know was that I had untreated diabetes.

“During my recovery period I gave up the academy and was offered training for the ordained ministry and I moved to where I am today at Wivenhoe Congregational Church.

“I’m also at Essex University as one of the chaplains in the multi- faith centre.”

Justin became known as the Rockin’ Rev for the concerts he holds at the church in Wivenhoe.

He says he has finally found his calling.

He said: “My message is really that there is no such thing as disability.

“The word just means ‘not able to do something’, so find something you can do.

“I know there are some disabilities that are so severe that 24-hour care is needed, and so my message is also to those who care for others.

“Your purpose is one of the greatest because you are the arms and legs, ears and eyes and may God Bless you greatly.”