Nominated by
Bushra khan
March 30, 2019
Kayes almost lost his life to weight-related issues, he was often looked down upon by society due to his sheer size, whilst he previously put on a smile, it was clear there was a lot going on behind the scenes. This is a guy who was on the brink of death due to various medical complications. He is a family orientated person with three kids and a wonderful wife. At his biggest he weighed in at a staggering 30 stones, he almost lost hope and became suicidal. Kayes once said to me that I will overcome this part of my life, and show others that hardship is part of life, I got myself into this mess and ill get myself out. He also knew that his family was very dependant on him, and taking this weak route to mean his family suffering. Kayes was given a lifeline in 2011 he was offered the opportunity to undertake gastric bypass surgery, he had so many medical problems this included High blood pressure, high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, sleep apnoea and other medical complications. I have obtained the information from various online articles which I will talk about shortly. Kayes underwent the surgery and since 2011 he has worked extremely hard to fulfil his dreams to become an affluent individual in the community, as well as being a perfect role model to people including his family. He now regularly gets up at 5 am almost every morning and going out running the distance of 5 kilometres to maintain his weight, he had lost a total of 17 stones.
Kayes has the dedication and drives to not only change his life but the will power to impact the lives of others. He has supported so many people to come out of poverty by showing them ways to get back on track using health and fitness, he has done many charities runs to raise money for McMillan cancer, Richard house hospice, Rohingya families. He was awarded community champion award 2019 by Keolis Amey Docklands light railway for his efforts and work in the community. Kayes put others ahead of his own needs, and sometimes the needs of his own family, he regularly gives money to charity from his wages, he supports both the young and old, other charity work includes working with a charity groups heroes fc 2020 who was formerly known as share to care, he worked as a volunteer to help bring kids off the street who were involved in antisocial behaviour to becoming active young kids through the sport of football. Some of these kids were scouted for major teams. Kayes also supported the group in obtaining funding from Newham council to enable the charity to grow and take on more kids. Kayes also extended his voluntary work to inspire people in the community as well as in the workplace, he created a running club called the dockside runners, he started running on his own, then slowly through persuasion recruited more people, the aim of the group was to help people become fit and healthy, colleagues from work irrespective of their age or gender to join and engage with each other, increase fitness levels and at the same time, run through areas which women felt unsafe due to groups congregating. Kayes lead a team through these areas in his lunch break, and showed empowerment to young people congregating around parks getting up to no good, he showed that we can all bring communities together. Kayes eventually had young groups of people joining him in the run and this not only made parks and open spaces more welcoming to everyone, it also increased more families attending. Kayes used this running club to help raise money for Richard house hospice, he entered a team of runners who started from just walking to now running a 5-kilometre relay, the team successfully completed this, and all runners now regularly participate is activities like this to raise money for worthy causes.
Having known Kayes for many years and understanding his journey, I can say this is a unique man who went through poverty, health-related issues, to comi9ng close to death, then he managed to change his whole life and become a community champion, a leader of leaders, touch the lives of many people, started a trend which brings people of all walks of life together and makes changes which will impact not only individuals but also the next generation. He has not only saved his life but given hope too many to become the best they can be.