According to Petra and Dimitri’s twitter accounts, it sounds like they may have returned to the States? I hope so. I’m excited to see them get some media attention like the other couples soon. Also, I didn’t realize Petra had been through a devastating and heart breaking experience when she was critically injured and lost her fiance, Simon Atlee, in the 2004 Thailand Tsunami. Below is a take from The Survivers Club.

Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova is set to appear on the ABC reality competition “Dancing with the Stars” more than six years after she was critically injured in the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, reports CBS News.

The devastating tsunami struck while Nemcova, now 31, was on a photo shoot in Thailand with her fiance, Simon Atlee. Atlee was killed in the disaster, and Nemcova had to be airlifted to safety after the wave broke her pelvis and left her with severe internal injuries.

In the months following the tsunami, Nemcova had to go through months of intensive care and physical therapy as she worked to regain the ability to walk. The source says that her appearance on “Dancing with the Stars” will be particularly poignant, as her dancing will represent a significant achievement in the wake of her having to fight to walk again after the disaster.

Since her near-death experience, she has continued to model, working for lingerie company Victoria’s Secret and appearing on the covers of magazines like Elle, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated.

Petra talks below about her experience for what happened that day. Note what she says about the “beautitul moment” in it all and what she says about “staying calm”.

I can’t imagine what that had to have been like? Wow!