A 46-year-old man in Singapore has turned himself into a professional bodybuilder after surviving a stroke that nearly killed him five years ago.
Kellvin Lim collapsed as he was leaving his house. His wife initially thought he was playing a prank, but it turns out he was having a stroke, according to Lianhe Wanbao via AsiaOne.
Lim suffered a cerebral hemorrhage when two of his blood vessels in his right brain burst. Doctors warned the family that the surgery has a low survival chance of 5% to 10% or he could end up in a vegetative state if it failed.
Despite the warnings, his family gave their consent and he went on with the procedure. The surgery was a success, but his ordeal was far from over.
Lim experienced problems with the left part of his body and was unable to move and had to use his wheelchair to move around. After being released from the hospital, Lim relied on the help of his other family members, especially his wife, to take care of his daily needs.
“I used to frequently wet the bed,” Lim told Lianhe Wanbao. “There’s a coffee shop below my place that’s just about 300 meters (984 feet) away but it would take me 15 minutes just to wheel myself over. It always felt as though people were looking at me and I became really depressed then.”
Fortunately, Lim was able to turn his life around.
“I thought about my business and family. If I don’t get a grip on myself, no one else can help me,” he said, according to Mothership. “I can only rely on myself.”
Lim recuperated and went into rehabilitation for three years, but he still found himself looking plump. It was then he decided to go to the gym.
“I wanted to change myself, so in 2017 I got rid of all my bad eating habits and spent my mornings swimming and my evenings at the gym,” he said. “I even hired a private trainer and lost almost 20kg (44 pounds) that year.”
He recounted the struggles he faced when he first started going to the gym. Lim said he had trouble lifting even a 5-kilogram (11-pound) dumbbell. He eventually decided to get rid of his wheelchair and cane and forced himself to walk to his office every day.
“A lot of times, when I was out of breath, I really felt like giving up. But thinking of my family and my business, I could only persevere,” he said.
All of Lim’s hard work finally paid off. He became the second runner-up of the 2018 Fitness Ironman bodybuilding competition for the above 176cm category. He was also the runner-up at this year’s competition but in the above 40 years old category.
Feature Image via Lianhe Wanbao
