From the brink of despair to mayor of Cornish town

A former rugby player said he tried to take his own life after he was forced to adapt to life in a wheelchair.

Eight years later, James Ball is the mayor of Camborne.

Mr Ball said his "life completely changed" 11 years ago when a routine visit to his GP about "some knee trouble" revealed problems with his hip joints.

The condition left the rugby player needing a wheelchair and suffering from the knock-on effect on his mental health.

Mr Ball, 45, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he went through five operations in the space of a few months as doctors battled to save his leg.

He said he still needed two hip replacements and two new knees, but he was "too young to have the operations on the NHS".

“They’ll look at it when I’m 55 but I’ll take longer to recover then. I’ve fought and fought as much as I can,” he said.

He added: “To start off with it was a struggle as I went from being so active, running around on a rugby pitch, to within a blink of an eye being in a wheelchair.

"How quickly it happened was shocking. Fortunately I had a lot of support around me, but it still had a damaging effect on my mental health."

Mr Ball said he tried to take his own life twice.

"Now, obviously, I’m glad I didn’t do it because of what I’ve achieved,” he said.

He recalled his darkest moments and said: “When it happens, you think ‘what am I going to do now?’ You think I can’t do this, I can’t do that, I can’t run around with my daughter, I can’t kick a ball around, I can’t go for a walk on the beach.

"It has a huge impact on you... It had a huge impact on my family.

"Everyone that I meet I quite openly tell that I tried to take my own life.

"You shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it. If me talking about it then stops that person, it’s worth it."

• BBC Action Line: Suicide/Feelings of despair

He said after the incident in 2016, he was given medication and mental health support.

“It sounds corny, but it’s that little switch that just flicks in your head and instead of thinking what I can’t do, it’s what I can do," he said.

"Once you’ve got that, you can move on and fortunately we live in a society now where disabled people are accepted pretty much everywhere.

"There are a few issues with access to various things, but largely it’s very positive."

He said when he became mayor, he wanted to leave the town "better than it was".

Mr Ball added: "In the six months so far I think I’ve achieved that a little bit, but I want to do more.

"There’s a lot of positivity in Camborne."

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