Amo Raju (53) has Cerebral Palsy and has brought countless services to the city and generated over £25m for Derby charity Disability Direct since taking over the reins in 1997. On the 21st October his book – ‘Walk Like A Man’ shot straight in as the number two bestseller on Amazon.
“I’m gobsmacked! So many people have connected with the book about depression and disability which we started to work on 18 months ago at the beginning of lockdown.”
The book focusses on a number of therapy sessions over three decades between the main character, Amraj ‘AJ’ Rai based on Amo and his therapist.
“I only started talking about my own relationship with depression a couple of years ago. At the beginning of lockdown last year, I gave myself the advice, which I’ve comfortably given to others. Don’t talk about it, do something about it! So, I contacted Mani, who I’d never met before and we both just dived in!”
At the beginning of lockdown, he reached out to his, now, co-author, Mani Hayre who lives in Birmingham and both spent 18 months bringing together his many adventures over the years. And after many Zooms, phone calls and voice note a 364-page story called ‘Walk Like A Man’ has come to fruition.
Mani says “It’s a fantastic story and I needed no persuasion. There are so many sub-stories throughout his journey and as a writer I simply could not resist. The scary thing is, we’ve only actually met twice in person! The whole experience whilst surreal, was also a joy and we’re both immensely proud of the end product.”
‘Walk Like A Man’ is on release on Amazon Kindle and Paperback.