Local Actor Duan Weiming Plans To Sell 3-Room HDB Flat To Provide For Himself After Amputating Leg Due To Diabetes

Back in 2020, when 8days.sg spoke to local actor Duan Weiming, he’d shared that he’d just undergone a surgery to save his right leg from amputation due to diabetes-linked issues. Weiming, who is 61 this year, has suffered from diabetes since he was 22.

The actor also shared some very gory details about another leg-related accident that he’d suffered… and how he eventually treated it by himself without any professional help, ‘cos hospitals are a hassle (his words, not ours).

While it seemed like everything was all hunky-dory for Weiming health-wise, it was recently reported that the actor had his left leg amputated below the knee in early September after suffering some health complications.

Now that he has been discharged, Weiming is looking to the future, and intends to sell his 3-room HDB flat in order to provide for himself.

About two months prior to the amputation, Weiming was involved in a traffic accident after blacking out and losing control of the motorbike he was riding. He suffered injuries on both his legs as a result. It was then that he found out that he was also suffering from a couple of unspecified health problems linked to diabetes.

He was initially scheduled to amputate his left leg below the knee in end August, as it was infected, and he was in great pain. However, he postponed the surgery to take care of his adoptive mother's affairs after she passed away. His surgery eventually took place in early-September, and he was discharged in late-September.

Now, the actor is focused on recuperating and rehabilitation. In an interview with The Straits Times, Weiming shared that he is religiously following his medication schedule to manage his diabetes and high cholesterol.

He previously eschewed Western medication, and chose to self-medicate by drinking more water and exercising. However, his time in the hospital has changed him. Apart from connecting with fellow diabetes patients who reassured him that the medicine prescribed by the doctors are effective, he also doesn’t wish to worry his loved ones.

His health scare also allowed him to reconcile with his estranged daughter after 10 years.

The actor and his ex-wife divorced for the second —and final time— more than a decade ago, after he had an affair. They have two children together — a daughter, 35, and a son, 15.

Weiming admitted that he hasn’t had a proper conversation with his daughter since the divorce, and that he was overcome with emotions when he reconciled with her.

He also received many messages of support from the public and local celebs alike. Weiming shared that local actor Chew Chor Meng, who suffers from neuromuscular disorder Kennedy’s Disease, which causes progressive weakening and wasting of the muscles, reached out to him too.

As for his plans for the future, Weiming shared that he will continue to eat healthier and consume his medication regularly, as well as attempt some of the rehabilitation exercises that he learnt in the hospital.

Weiming, who lives in a 3-room HDB flat in Boon Lay with his girlfriend of 10 years, also intends to sell his flat and a downgrade to a 2-room flat. This is so that he will be able to live off the money from the sale. Apart from that, he wishes to continue acting, and is open to getting a prosthetic leg fitted as well.

You can catch Weiming’s most recent drama, 128 Circle: Shaking Legs, on meWATCH here. The first episode is embedded below.

Photos: Mediacorp, meWATCH, Duan Weiming