Strength within

Kenn Firestone is back.

“I’m ready to teach. These people need me and I need them. I think I need them more than they need me right now, to heal me,” he said.

Healing.

It’s what the Kauai man has been doing since that Feb. 16, 2011, Kaumualii Highway accident that nearly killed him. It left him with two broken legs. Broken arms. Broken ribs. Punctured lung. Doctors were ready to amputate his left leg. The right leg was crushed.

But Firestone had other plans when he woke up in Queens Medical Center 12 days after the crash. While he didn’t remember what happened — the last thing he recalled was running an errand to Kalaheo for the car dealership he was working for — he knew he wasn’t going to listen to the doctor who said, “Kenn, you’re never going to walk again.”

Even after spending three months in Queens being pieced back together, after agony and pain, he knew he would not just walk again. He would return to his passion, teaching karate. It’s that attitude that helped him endure multiple surgeries. It’s how he never lost hope while spending nine months in a wheelchair and underwent physical therapy.

“I took it as a challenge — and cried a lot,” he said. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Firestone credits his martial arts training for his survival. It’s the same discipline that made him a World Champion and winner of the Kabuki Challenge. It’s what made him the best fighter of the 90s. It’s how he earned his black belt. It’s what gave him the ability to teach karate to thousands.

“Martial arts saved my life,” he said.

There’s still pain. His legs bear the scars of that crash a little more than three years ago. He walks carefully. But he accepts what happened and he is moving beyond. Firestone is always moving forward.

“It’s normal now. What is, is, my father taught me. And this is what it is.”

Determination taught him how to come back strong. He’s not there yet, but closer. He’s almost to where he feels prepared to open the doors to his school.

“Now, I’ve got to fix my head and do what I love to do, and teach,” he said.

The 56-year-old, who stands a solid 5 feet, 10 inches tall, plans to open a karate school in Lihue soon. Not sure when, exactly, but he knows it’s going to happen. He’s been teaching some after-school programs, getting back in the swing, if you will, getting his feet wet, testing his strength and stamina, physically and mentally.

School, for kids to adults, is about more than learning martial arts. It’s about life skills. It’s about respect, leadership and belief in yourself.

“It’s just not kicking and punching,” he said. “I want to make them champions in life, not martial arts.”

Karate career

Firestone was introduced to martial arts when he was 13. His father took him to the movie, “The Mechanic” with Charles Bronson in California. There was a scene when Bronson was pretty much pummeling everyone.

“You guys are going to do that,” his father said to Kenn and his brother.

They walked next door to a Chuck Norris martial arts school on Van Nuys Boulevard and signed up for classes.

“And that was that,” Firestone said.

He excelled at karate. He would go on to earn his black belt, become a champion, a top fighter and trainer. He even landed some movie parts (that’s him in Delta Force, at age 17 or 18, getting kicked off a helicopter). Early in his career, he worked with Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.

“It was very cool,” he said.

He opened Universal Karate in 1995 in California and later opened a karate school on Kauai with wife Shelly. The school grew to several hundred students until the accident forced him to close it.

The recovery from the crash was slow. There were multiple surgeries. Eighteen months ago, he couldn’t walk. He remembers wearing big, heavy boots for support, walking down stairs of his Lawai home, sweating, crying, such was the hurt.

“I looked like Frankenstein,” he said, laughing.

Firestone’s wife cared for him while he was recovering. She dedicated her days to her husband.

“It’s never giving up what, or who, you believe in,” Shelly said.

Firestone said he learned from that crash.

“I’m not spiritual. I don’t go to church. But  I do believe in me. That accident was for a reason, and now I’ve got to open my school.”

When asked how good of a fighter he was, Firestone just shrugs.

“I’m OK,” he said.

“He’s too humble,” his wife added. “He doesn’t boast.”

But that prompts Firestone to speak up and explain how the accident make him better.

“I’ll tell you how good I am. I’m so good, when I was in my wheelchair, I was able to teach and people were picking up what I was teaching better than if I was standing or moving.”

“I can visually paint a picture.”

Never give up

Last year, Firestone attended The Gathering in Houston, an event to celebrate 50 years of sport karate. He was honored as the best fighter of the 90s in the U.S. and one of four inducted to a Hall of Fame.

He laughs at the reaction when he arrived for the ceremonies. Most had heard of the accident. Some thought he had perished.

“They didn’t think I was alive,” he said, smiling.

“Are those real legs?” he was asked.

Absolutely.

If he could share one message, it’s this: “Do not give up your dreams. If you have an idea, you have a little bit of talent on it, do not give it up. Because someone said you can’t do that here.”

He was told he couldn’t open a karate school on Kauai. He did. He was told he wouldn’t walk again. He did.

“You don’t need anything but yourself to survive. I’m a perfect, walking example,” he said. “I’m walking because I kept my leg because that’s what you’re supposed to do.”

Survivors, Firestone said, survive because when they get knocked down they get back up. And they keep getting up.

“There is strength inside you to fix you if you can do it, or someone is there to help you,” he said.

He said he doesn’t — and neither should others — listen to those who say you can’t do something. Always believe in you.

“I did my best,” he said. “I’m still doing my best.”

Wife Shelly said her husband’s greatest asset is his heart. He’s tough on the outside, “but he’s such a little puppy dog.”

“He’s got strength that he passes on to everyone he meets,” she said.

Reopening the school will give him the chance to share that strength and grow stronger, too.

Firestone said he needs to walk on that mat. He needs to breathe and smell martial arts. He wants to feel the sweat that comes with training sessions. He needs those relationships with people again.

“I’ve got to help people. That’s what I’ve always done,” he said.  “I believe in the people out here. That’s why I stayed here.”

It’s a matter of time now, he said, to when he opens his school again. It will be soon. Because Kenn Firestone is back.

“I’m ready,” he said.