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Jamie Elliott’s heartache

Jamie Elliott’s story is one of loss and tragedy.

When he was 10 years old Jamie’s mum received a phone call from his dad who was living in Queensland to inform her that that he had cancer.

Three years later Jamie’s father lost his battle with cancer, when Jamie was just thirteen at the time.

“I didn’t quite grasp how big of a deal it was, to lose someone that you share everything with; footy, we used to go fishing together, to lose a person to talk to about footy is probably the biggest thing, having that role model in my life for my teenage years and losing him, it had a massive impact on my life.”

At the age of seventeen Jamie got his first tattoo, something to honour his dad by.  “It’s a personal reminder that he’s watching me and he’s proud.”

After the passing of his father, the responsibility of raising the children fell solely to his mum.  “Mum had to work two jobs just to support us, we didn’t realise how much she was doing at the time.”

“She’s the most important woman in my life, same with my sister, what she’s done for me, I couldn’t be more grateful.”

“She’s the most important woman in my life, same with my sister, what she’s done for me, I couldn’t be more grateful.” – Jamie Elliott on his mum

Just three years ago, Jamie received another tragic phone call, his brother Matt had lost control of his car and slammed into a tree.

“My heart just sank, one of the hardest experiences of my life. He was in a coma for about three and a half weeks, after waking up he had brain damage, he a lot of things going wrong for him and not much going right.”

“Those two things have helped me as a person, I have grown up a lot quicker than a kid has to.”

Jamie has suffered through many personal tragedies in his young life but with the support of his family, he has managed to push through and fulfil his dreams as an AFL player.

Words by Zoe Dunstan