Radio presenter talks about his struggle with Blount's Disease
|Published
HEART TO HEART: Jovial radio presenter Kabelo ‘KB’ Shomang battled with a terrible disease in childhood. Picture: Supplied HEART TO HEART: Jovial radio presenter Kabelo ‘KB’ Shomang battled with a terrible disease in childhood. Picture: Supplied
Known as the gentle giant with the contagious laugh and wacky jokes, HeartFM Weekday Wake Up presenter Kabelo Shomang, aka KB, has opened up about his traumatic childhood struggling with a life-altering disease.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Voice, KB, 42, says he was born with Blount’s Disease which has left him with bow legs.
Blount’s Disease is a growth disorder of the shin bone (tibia) characterized by inward turning of the lower leg that slowly worsens over time.
The deformity typically improves with age.
“It was bent 45 degrees, a pig could walk between my legs, but my mom is in the medical industry and got me all sorted, I had a few operations as a child,” says KB, who lives in Observatory.
“I was in and out of the hospital and spent a lot of time out of school.
“I would have an op, but then my legs grew skew again, and I was very fat, my mom couldn’t carry me around.
“I had trouble at school with all the name calling.
“I had a difficult childhood, but it made me who I am today.”
KB also brought out several childhood pictures, saying: “You will distinctly see who I am in the pictures, I don’t even have to tell you.”
TRAUMA: KB had leg deformity as a child. Picture: Supplied
By the time KB reached high school, his legs were 100% normal, and from being the odd one out, he turned his teens into his “best life”.
“I became this bubbly outspoken child and even did ads and TV appearances,” he says.
Kabelo Shomang. Picture: Supplied
“I always looked younger than my actual age and at 21, I was a presenter on the kids TV programme Craz-e on etv.
The presenter developed a passion for the media and pursued a career in radio.
His first gig was in 2003 for Discom Vibes, weekdays and weekends.
The jock tells the Daily Voice that Heart FM brought him on board back in 2017, as the presenter of the lively 4am-6am show the time when people start to rise and shine and some are already on their way to work to avoid the Cape’s hectic peak-hour traffic jams.