He’s undergone two surgeries in his back to fix broken nerves and insert screws because of injuries he sustained when playing rugby in his youth.
He is due for another surgery to fasten the screws and have “other repair work done in problematic areas” but has to wait in pain as he loses weight.
“I can’t immediately [have the operation] because I’m overweight and that’s because of my inactivity, though I am on a serious diet. He [doctor] wants me to lose 10kg because my tummy is too big and he wants to operate from the tummy,” he told TshisaLIVE.
“I’m eating very little. I’m on these diet injections but I’m not feeling that I am losing weight. I have been in the gym my whole life and all of a sudden there’s complete inactivity. I have to lie on my bed. I can sit for an hour, then I have to lie down again because the pain is eating me up.”
Leon said knowing he might have to wait in pain for two months or more before going under the knife while living off painkiller pills has affected his mental health.
“The whole process is being postponed and I’m depressed about that. My life is standing still. My creative life is standing still. I cannot create anything when I’m feeling like this and all these tablets I have to take to suppress the pain are not good for me but I don’t have a choice because they give you some relief, but they stuff up your stomach and mental frame of mind.
“There’s so much time before I can get operated on and it frustrates me immensely. I walk with difficulty with a cane and I don’t like seeing myself in front of a mirror with this cane.”
Leon said the doctor told him he might live with 50% of the pain he’s experiencing now despite the operation.
“I will live on painkillers for the rest of my life. I wish I can just get relief, even if it’s just 50%. Pain depresses you. It makes you numb where you don’t want to do anything else.”
He is grateful for the support he’s received from his family, friends and fans which has uplifted him during this dark period.
“I can endure the pain because I have endured enough slaps in my life. Being thrown around in my movies when doing my own stunts as well as rugby. There is so much damage in my lower back.
“I keep consoling myself with what I saw in that rehab lab with people who have no limbs and have much worse conditions than mine, so I am thankful to God that I can still walk, be it slowly or very little. I had my day and that’s OK. But I’m not going to sit on my bum and not do any work. I will continue working until the day I lay my head down.”