'Fit and healthy' Qld mum struck down by serious condition

Five years ago, Amber Walker's life changed in a way she could never have predicted.

Amber, 39, was healthy, happy and living at Mermaid Beach on the Gold Coast. Her Instagram account was filled with photos showing her fit, bronzed and surrounded by her family.

"I'd always had a sore back, but I thought it was from overtraining," she tells 9Honey.

When the pain continued, and worsened, Amber sought medical advice and was diagnosed with a genetic condition that sees her bones continuing to grow, sometimes fusing, causing pain.

Surgery was the only option, so Amber underwent spinal surgery and a partial hip replacement in 2019, hoping to be able to continue life as normal once she had recovered.

Instead, she began experiencing throbbing in her left leg.

"I thought it was due to my spine and a nerve," she says.

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Further investigations showed she had four blood clots in her leg, so Amber began taking blood thinners to resolve the issue. That's when she was involved in a minor car accident that sent her back to hospital with internal bleeding from the blood thinners.

Amber's nightmarish year continued with the end of her marriage. She was home, mostly alone, trying to recover, but the surgery and subsequent incidents had left her unable to walk, talk, eat or drink.

"I was trying to recover at home but I couldn't drink, I couldn't talk," she says. "I had to learn to walk, eat, drink... I had to drink thickened fluid you could only get from nursing homes."

It was the most difficult time of her life, and before long Amber's mental health began declining. Seeing how much she was struggling, a friend signed her up to a mental health texting service and Amber was able to access support from home.

The service, called Virtual Psychologist, was started by psychologist Dervla Loughnane, who saw a need for it through her work.

"We are in a mental health crisis and psychology as an industry is quite antiquated," Loughnane tells 9Honey.

"We need to look at delivering mental health support in different ways. Text is so powerful even for record keeping, you can go back and look at the conversation. It's really helpful for those on both sides of the conversation.

"For users, sometimes they need to see words such as 'you are important' clearly in black-and-white text or it doesn't mean anything. For us to have the entire conversation recorded, it makes training so much more effective. We are not relying on notes, which can be open for interpretation."

Amber says the convenience of the service and the ease with which she found the right psychologist helped in her recovery, particularly when she was unable to walk and talk.

"Many psychologists in Australia have a six to eight-week wait list. If someone is awake stressing at midnight, it's difficult for them to get the help they need," Amber says.

"I have had counselling in the past but it can be hard to find the right person. This service matched me with someone who suited me and being able to text and get messages back helped when I couldn't talk.

"It was also good to be able to share my struggles via text when the kids were with me, so I didn't worry them."

These days, Amber's Instagram feed is still filled with bronzed bikini shots, but it is also peppered with open and honest posts about her physical struggles, including a recent procedure to ensure the cervical cancer she had battled years earlier was gone.

She has also found love again, and continues to see her children regularly.

While she'll always face health challenges due to her genetic condition, Amber is feeling grateful for everything she has, and urges others to "stop merely existing and start truly living".

"Stop saving things for the special occasions, stop wasting time on people who treat you as an option, surround yourself with like-minded people who are going to be there for you when you need them but are also going to push you to be a better version of yourself," she says.

"Life's short and tomorrow isn't promised to anybody."

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Contact Jo Abi at jabi@nine.com.au.