A taxi driver who lost more than half his body weight after a stroke now plans to help other men tackle obesity.
Kenny Hill ballooned to 30 stone but even after warning signs of diabetes and a heart attack he continued to gorge on takeaways and fizzy, sugary juice.
But when he suffered a stroke in August 2015, the 44-year-old could no longer stick his head in the sand.
He slimmed down to 13st 2lbs and last month started his own business as a personal trainer and wellbeing coach.
Kenny, from Hamilton, said: “I know what it was that did it. I work as a taxi driver and never did any exercise. My wife, Tracy, would ask me if I wanted to go for a walk and I would say ‘What do I want to do that for when I have a car outside?’.”
And although Kenny was a trained chef, he lived on processed food, takeaways and “two or three litre bottles of ginger” every day.
He said: “I have lost about 17 stone since my heaviest point and now when I look back at photos I think, ‘How did I let myself get to that stage?’”
He was diagnosed with type two diabetes when his daughter Abbie, now 20, was 12.
The 38-year-old said: “I neglected it for years, thinking nothing was going to happen. Before I had my stroke I went to the hospital with a swollen leg which turned out to be a blood clot. I had scans which showed I’d had a silent heart attack but I still dismissed it. I wouldn’t accept that I’d had one.
“But with the stroke I actually felt something happen – that was the wake-up call. I’d had a few shots across my bow before but this was my third strike and I thought, ‘Next one and you are out of here.’”
Afterwards, he barely ate for a few months because he was so worried about his health.
He said: “I was always having panic attacks.The doctor told me I had morbid anxiety because I’d had a big health scare and offered me anti-depressants but I didn’t want to go on more medication.
“Instead I went to a life coach and he helped me with a lot of different things including exercise, meditation and breathing techniques. Now I want to help others like me. Having my stroke was my awakening.”
He has become a dedicated fundraiser for Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland, raising £1400 recently from an Iron Man challenge and more fundraising activities are being planned.
Hayley Simpson, community and events fundraising manager at Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland, said: “Kenny is an inspiration to us all. From completely changing his lifestyle to braving one of the toughest endurance challenges, and now volunteering his time
to help others – he is the embodiment of no life half lived.
“It’s thanks to amazing fundraisers and volunteers like Kenny that we can continue helping stroke survivors across Scotland.”
