'I could lie and tell you a shark got me'- Ex-army Irish man on life after losing a leg

In an exclusive interview, a man from Dublin and now living in Kildare, Kevin Ball (65), has shared his inspiring story of life after losing a leg.

Kevin is a wheelchair user and also has a prosthetic leg after battling with diabetes for many years.

He served in the army for 21 years and said that he experienced a few “scary trips” during his time in the army but that he did enjoy his time working overall.

He joined the army because he lost his job as a barman, he said that because it was cheaper for the bar to hire people less qualified that he lost his job.

Even though Kevin completed a three year apprenticeship to become a fully qualified bar man, he said "I was out of a job so I went and signed up for the army…I never looked back!”

When asked why he must use a wheelchair Kevin said, “Well I could tell you lies…there’s loads of reasons I could give..I could tell you I was parachuting or I could tell you a shark got me…but it was diabtes….I suffered with that for years.”

In 2016 Kevin suffered bad infections that started out in his feet and he recalls how he “started losing toes.”
“Once an infection gets into the bone…the big toe went first the other four toes went after that…but I was still able to walk around,” Kevin said.

“Then the other foot started....I was out walking up the canal and I got a stone in my shoe and I didn’t feel it because of the diabetes. I got a cut in my foot which turned into an ulcer which got worse and worse with infections after infections.”

“I was up and down to Tallaght hospital for antibiotics and this went on for a couple of years until my leg was taken,” Kevin explained.

Kevin had his leg amputated in Febraury of 2022, “since then I've been in a wheelchair and I have a prosthetic leg."

Kevin said he is still able to drive his car, and he uses public transport regularly with his wheelchair.

“I take the leg off when Im driving and use hand controls in the car theres no problem I can go wherever I want," he said.

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Kevin said he uses his wheelchair a lot more because he can go on the train with it…but he said that his local bus services in Sallins and Clane are not very wheelchair friendly.

“Some of the drivers don’t know how to use the lift for the wheelchair to go up on…I was as the bus stop and said ‘are you going to let me on? Are you going to put the ramp down?”.

Kevin said the bus driver didn’t know how to put the ramp down and another passenger had to show him how to do it!

Kevin also pointed out that some pathways aren’t wheelchair friendly, “I have to wait to make sure there's a drop down to get off a path and things like that so that its not too steep and I don’t topple over".

Kevin gave an extremely inspirational outlook on being disabled and explained how he copes everyday and remains positive.

When he asked himself at first, “how am I going to get through this?” he then told himself, “I’m not going to let this get me down.”
“I’m going to beat this,” he said, “this is not going to get the better of me.”

Within the army, Kevin said that he used humour and banter with his fellow army men to stay positive about his disability.
He said he would make jokes about himself like, after the pub “I’ll be going home legless!”.

“I wanted to be positive all the time, that’s what kept me going,” Kevin said, but he also pointed out that, like most people, he would also have bad days.

Kevin told me he wasn’t going to spend his days “looking at the four walls” so from Monday to Friday Kevin has a different activity planned for every day so he can get out talk to people.

He said, “on Monday’s I do creative writing in Dublin, on Tuesday’s and Wednesdays I’m here in the Irish wheelchair association and Friday’s I do archery”.
On the weekend, Kevin has his daughters and five grandchildren come to visit.

Kevin said that his five year old nephew thinks his leg got bitten off by a shark!

The Irish Wheelchair Association relies on donations to support the disabled community in providing them with a space to make friends, do activities, take part in sport and so much more.

For more information you can visit IWA.ie.