Can-Do-Ability: Answers and Solutions from my personal experiences of living with a disability

The Man With Half A Body

18 Mar 2011I wanted to share with you, a story I heard about a man with half a body.

Kevin Easterday, who grew up in Pennsylvania, was born with a rare disability, called Sacral Agenesis, this means his spine didn’t properly form, doctors made a choice early on in his life, to amputate the lower half of his body.

They gave him the shortened life expectancy of 21 years old. He is now 35, and very independent, despite getting around on his hands.

As a child, ‘Kenny’ as he’s known to his family and friends, was encouraged by his father to walk on his hands. He was given prosthetic legs to use, but found them more of a nuisance than anything else, so he continued to get around on his hands or a skateboard.

Kenny has always lived his life to the fullest, learning how to play pool and go bowling. He became quite well known during a stint on the Jerry Springer show.

He has also had success with finding partners, he was married to his first wife at 19 years old, and they divorced two years later.

Kenny is now engaged to his fiancé Nicky, who reassures that all of his genital parts are in working order, (which is a common question that they get asked by strangers). This is understandable if you don’t personally know Kenny, because when you look at him, it appears like he is cut off at his ribs, but he assures that he has his genitals still in-tact.

Kenny wants to have children, the couple thought that Nicky’s 7 year old daughter, Desiree, was his child, as shortly after they began dating, Nicky fell pregnant. Kenny has always treated Desiree as his own daughter, but it was confirmed last year, that he wasn’t her father. He still treats Desiree the same as he did before he found out the results.

As you can imagine, not having legs, it would be difficult to wear pants. So Kenny just wears a t-shirt, which he ties up at the bottom. He also faces difficulties as he is getting older, as he has broken his arms before and the strain of walking around on his hands most of his life is beginning to take its toll, but Kenny is not ready to give up just yet.

Take a look at the original preview of a story about Kenny’s life, which aired on American television last year, click here:http://www.odditycentral.com/news/full-life-in-just-half-the-body.html

Also, take a look at some of the comments from viewers who have watched the same clip. I really don’t know how some people can function in society, if they still have the narrow-minded views and opinions about people with disabilities as some of these commenter’s have left. It truly is disgusting and they should take a look at themselves before passing judgement.

Playing pool


Bowling


Kenny as a child



Would you like to comment on this article?

Name: 
Location: 
Comments: 
  Enter these characters into the red box
Please type the red letters and numbers into the red box above. This is to protect our system from SPAM and viruses.

Previous Comments

There are no comments for this blog post as yet. If you have recently commented then please be patient while your comment is reviewed by our staff.

Blog Archive

Influenza Vs The Common Cold
Posted: 18 May 2012

Power people with disabilities leading the world
Posted: 16 May 2012

Medical malpractice Curable disease kills 15 year old English girl
Posted: 15 May 2012

Paralysed woman finishes 42 kilometre marathon with bionic suit
Posted: 11 May 2012

Sex sells but can this concept work for people with disabilities too
Posted: 10 May 2012

What effect today's pop culture is having on little girls
Posted: 8 May 2012

Go YELLOW for Wishbone Day
Posted: 3 May 2012

Chloe Maxwell admits on television; 'I wanted my Autistic son to run into traffic'
Posted: 2 May 2012

Who is really looking after your disabled child when you’re not around?
Posted: 27 Apr 2012

This man didn't want to go to work, so he cut his own foot off!
Posted: 26 Apr 2012

Autistic individuals are being left behind
Posted: 20 Apr 2012

Rachael Leahcar blitzes her 'Blind Audition'
Posted: 19 Apr 2012

 
Copyright © 2012 Nova Employment & Training ProgramWeb Design: Steve Daniel