‘Losing my health was my saving grace’, says Stan Walker

Stan Walker was diagnosed cancer at a time when he didn’t care whether he lived or died. The singer said at the time he had hit rock bottom both emotionally and financially, and had lost his passion for music.

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Stan Walker was diagnosed cancer at a time he didn’t care whether he lived or died.

It was only after hitting rock bottom in all aspects of his life and nearly dying from his illness that the singer found his faith to live.

“Losing my health was a bit of a saving grace, like a blessing in disguise because everything was out of my control,” Walker told The Saturday Telegraph.

“I felt I’d already lost everything and I didn’t care. To me being sick was inconvenient but coming out of it I realised I had to go back to my original intent to look at why I got into this to re-find my passion and joy.”.

Back in tune … Singer Stan Walker in Surry Hills. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

It was in July 2017 that the chart topping singer got the call from doctors notifying him he had stomach cancer.

He got tested because his family was known to carry a specific cancer gene and his mother had just been treated for breast cancer.

“To be honest the worst happened before all of that sickness stuff,” Walker, who will tour Australia for the first time in years in August, said.

“There were like two years of absolute shit. I had come to a point where I was over my career, I was over singing and over the industry because I think for so many years I just did everything to the point where I felt I did nothing and got nothing out of it. You do what you’re told and you go hard and learn a lot along the way but I never really had time to stop.”

Stan shared images on Instagram from hospital

and recovery after having his stomach removed.

It is not that Walker wasn’t grateful. He was just overcome with darkness and anxiety, something he finds hard to explain.

“I just felt nothing,” he said.

“I lost my passion for singing because it became everybody elses decision of how I should, who I should, when I should and what I look like when I do it.

“I didn’t really know what I was standing for. I was lost and I felt like I’d lost everything — my career, my voice, my passion, my sanity and my money.”

Financially too, Walker hit rock bottom.

Not wanting to sing, he recalled not having any money in his bank account and was not willing to play the lucrative corporate gigs that were being offered to him.

“I spent money because I felt nothing,” he said. “I went from never looking at anything and how much it cost, clothes, travel, everything, to losing it all. I had nothing in the bank and I didn’t want to gig either. I felt like every time I would sing I was dying inside.”

Walker performs on Australian Idol back in 2009 aged 18.

To treat the cancer, the 2009 Australian Idol winner had to have his full stomach removed and has multiple scars as a reminder.

He kept the surgery private though, which sent the rumour mill into overdrive with some suggesting he had taken up the drug ice and that was the cause of his weight loss.

The truth was that the 28-year-old had his entire stomach removed, which saw him go from 102kg to 63kg at his lowest weight. He now sits around 71kg.

“My oesophagus is stretched all the way down and connected to my bowel,” he explained. “It sounds weird but it works I guess.”

Walker believes he nearly died three times during his recovery and remembers vividly those moments.

“My body was shutting down,” he recalled.

“I watched the blood go out of my hands, it was the weirdest thing.

At that point, Walker found his reason to live — his parents and family, partner Alex King and his faith.

“I am on top,” he said.

“I went from absolutely rock bottom not wanting to sing anymore, unhealthy in every way possibly, physically, mentally and spiritually, and now I have the most incredible life. I feel extremely lucky.”

‘I feel extremely lucky,’ said Walker.

Walker documented the whole thing in feature film, Stan Walker: To Hell and Back.

Acting too has provided Walker much joy when he struggled with his music.

He appeared in movies including Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Born To Dance, Mt Zion, The Stolen and Chasing Comets.

“Films were my biggest rescue to be honest,” he said.

“I did more films in the last five years than I did singing. I enjoyed acting because I got to be somebody else.”

Walker splits his time between New Zealand, Sydney and Melbourne and is hoping to one day marry King, who is a photographer and has a five-year-old daughter.

“In a perfect world, I want to have like seven more kids,” he said.

“We will have our little tribe.”

Walker with the "Chasing Comets" cast at The Star in Sydney.

The singer released an EP Faith Hope Love with proceeds going to victims of the horrific Christchurch massacre in March and is working on a full album of new material.

He will play a series of intimate gigs across the country in August, including Sydney’s Max Watts venue on August 21.

“I’ve got an album ready to go,” he said.

“It is almost like a diary of the last 10 years. I have been to my version of hell and back. I would never want anybody to go through what I’ve been through and I am not talking about cancer, it is everything and every time I have been to the bottom. I have no doubt I am going to fall many more times but now I have more tools and I am stronger to help me get back up.”

Originally published as ‘Losing my health was my saving grace’, says Stan Walker