Trial To Triumph

Gold Coast based celebrity trainer and Mum of two, Amber Walker knew that she had to focus on fulfilling her life’s purpose despite medical professionals advising her against it. Now dedicated to helping others to live their happiest and healthiest lives through an  incredible new initiative, Amber exclusively shared with Oxygen's Jasmine Rolfe, her unfathomable  past experiences and how she refused to let them rule her.

I was quite young when my dad was diagnosed with cancer, meaning my parents were understandably in and out of hospital a lot of the time. My mum then required surgery herself and as I didn’t have any siblings, my childhood was a lonely one.

Prior to the diagnosis, my parents were both driven and ambitious people: they owned their own business and were constantly on the go. I suppose the apple didn’t fall far from the tree with me. A straight-A student, a Victorian representative in track and field among other sports, I was a model student and athlete.

As I was alone most of the time, I found solace in my studies and sport and threw myself into it. I guess you could say it was in my nature.

I continued to busy myself until I turned 16 and it was at this age that everything changed.

I was assaulted by a trusted individual and after taking action and telling my parents, the person justified his actions in saying ‘this is just the way teenagers will act.’

Around the same time my dad was rediagnosed with cancer after being in remission for a number of years, and I began seeing someone who, when I broke it off, began stalking me.

To add insult to injury during that same period, a close group of my friends wrapped a car around a tree with seven inside. Three of them didn’t make it.

It was a series of extremely unfortunate events and after suffering some debilitating health concerns of my own, my studies and sport - which I had previously relied on as a shield - were suddenly halted. It was then that my battle with mental health truly began.

Heightened by my recent experiences, I struggled to take back control of my mental health… and it certainly didn’t help that none of my teachers truly cared about me, just about how it affected my grades. I had to keep them up to make it into university after all.