Kasanda plans to do something extraordinary with the men in our society as an advocate against depression in men.
From his voice on radio, one can hardly tell he has been through a lot. He admitted to Shaffie he has laughed off excruciating pain because crying was not a choice for him then.
Bill lost his leg in 2015 after a terrible bike accident on Sunday afternoon. Bikers are known to have adrenaline when on the bike and this time was no different especially because they were racing as friends.
when I was growing up I just wanted to be a rich and successful guy. in 2015 I was involved in an accident and lost my foot. one Sunday afternoon we were pushing the limit of the bike too much because we were racing.We got to a corner and the speed was too high so my bike hit a sign. my legs were caught in between the tires so I am still not sure what cut my legs, the sign or the rims.
The pain was not instant, so he vowed to keep going with the race and probably win because his friends were not that far.
Bill then realized he could not feel his legs and noticed a lot of blood flowing from his right leg.
I saw so much blood on my right foot and I couldn't feel my legs. I was in too much pain after the shock it is actually pain beyond description. I didn't even cry, i laughed so I was told to chill.
The paramedics came to examine and administer first aid to Bill.
After they came in and administered fast aid. One guy told me I have lost my right leg and broke my left leg but are trying as much as possible to fix the left leg.they put my leg into a machine to minimize the leg movement. They gave me pain killers that did not really help. The trip from kiganjo road to aga khan was the longest trip I have ever been in. the doctors in aga khan came in and decided that since the nerves could be put back together, so they cannot put my right leg back they just have to amputate it.
Bill continued to explain how he dealt with all the trauma of knowing he has lost a foot.
So how did he manage the drastic change in his life?
PTSD checks in and it can easily turn to depression. I had to fake I had recovered to get out of the hospital after being there for two weeks. when I got home things had changed from the last time I was there.
They had prepared a place for him in the living room, with rails fitted all over the house.
I felt like my privacy was being invaded, I felt I was a burden because I had to be helped through everything. People need to be educated on how to handle people with disability.
How did his family deal with all this?
my family was all over my privacy. my girlfriend back then dealt with this by cooking for me from morning to everning. I gained weight to 114kgs.
Things then became too much,and Bill gained weight, with so much money being used to offset medical bills and he felt he was a burden.
At that point is when you feel you no longer want to live.To survive, I asked what is my purpose in life despite my disability. It never needed me to have a foot so that was my turning point, which was a month later. I was lucky I got there before I hit depression.
So how did he got his life back on track.
I needed to know how to start recovery. I started with a gym and two weeks later I quit, went back again. This happened three times. The last point was when I cried in the gym and decided that's the last time I will suffer that pain.
So he had to embrace the new him.
I then started enjoying the wheelchair life.I went back to work but I was being dropped to and fro work. so I then challenged myself to learn how to drive with my left leg and a manual car for that matter.
Despite all that, Bill is yet to do something extraordinary.
I have still realized that some of my family members are still depressed. so this empowered me to start an initiative to encourage men to talk. He wants to hike Mount Longonot on the 8th of June with crutches just to put myself out there to show the world that no matter what you're going through there is light at the end of the tunnel.
I have been training but it is hard so I have to go back to the drawing board. The aim is to move county to county to spread depression awareness
The last statement he told Shaffie that shocked him was that he still races on his bike.
