Chris Walker opens up on life changing accident, battles with alcohol and use of steroids

Ex-Origin star Chris Walker was minutes from death after a 700kg shipping container crushed both his legs. Peter Badel reveals how Walker turned to steroids to rebuild his life. WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES

Former NRL star Chris Walker pictured with his wife Courtney and kids Harper 16, Chase 13, and Narla 13. Picture: Adam Head

Chris Walker is seven minutes away from death.

It’s eight days before Christmas. The ex-Queensland State of Origin star has been crushed by the 700kg steel panel of a shipping container.

A distressed Walker is motionless and helpless as the side wall of the container crushes his legs like a monstrous tungsten boa constrictor.

Chaos descends. Five men race to desperately lift the hulking piece of steel. Trapped, Walker cannot hear the screams. Time seemingly freezes, but it’s not. The clock is ticking. One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. Still crushed. Still living. Still breathing. Still hoping.

Survival mode activates. It anaesthetises the pain, long enough for him to look to the heavens and wonder if this is the incongruous and incredulous way his life will come to an end.

No goodbye to his wife and kids. Crushed to death by a shipping container.

Thankfully, he has lived to tell an extraordinary tale laced with hardship, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, tests of personal morality, the spirit of family and, finally, the strength of hope.

“I’m lucky to be alive,” says the 44-year-old Walker.

“Another seven minutes, and I wouldn’t be here talking to you.

“I’d be dead for sure.”

In the lead-up to Origin II on Wednesday night, Walker is speaking at length for the first time in almost three years about the freak pre-Christmas accident in Townsville that nearly took his life.

The former Queensland Origin whiz-kid also opened up about the shocking physical injuries he sustained, his battle with alcohol, his mental demons - and how turning to steroids, a performance-enhancer he once detested as a professional athlete, helped save his life.

THE ACCIDENT

Walker will never forget the events of December 17, 2021. It was the day he flew north to support a friend as part of a street carnival in Townsville.

The father of three was on top of the world.

Just five months earlier, the then 41-year-old completed one of his most satisfying feats in life, walking 1757km from Cairns to the Gold Coast in a 71-day trek that raised more than $200,000 for charity.

Walker did it as a tribute to his great mate, Queensland and Broncos legend Carl Webb, who died last December after a four-year battle with Motor Neurone Disease.

As he crossed the finish line, Walker felt a bona fide purpose in life. He was helping others.

Then, in a split-second moment, his own world collapsed under the life-threatening weight of a massive slab of steel.

“I can’t explain what it feels like to have a shipping container fall on you,” Walker says.

“I had gone from walking 2.5 million steps to being in a wheelchair unable to walk.

“Like any major event, it happens so quickly. I just remember the force of the container hitting me and it felt like being smashed by a whole pack of 100kg front-rowers.

“I just felt so helpless. My legs were crushed. I couldn’t do anything.

“I had so many emotions running through my head in that moment.

“‘Please don’t lose my legs’.

“‘Please let me play with my kids again’.

“‘Please, please. Don’t die’.

“That’s when the realisation set in that I’m in real trouble, this is a terrible accident.”

The question is - how on earth does the side wall of a shipping container fall on someone?

“A friend of mine had just purchased a bar to put up in The Strand in Townsville,” Walker explains.

“My mate knew I had a vodka company and he needed vodka for the six weeks of the carnival, so I supplied him with alcohol and decided to go up there for the weekend to support him.”

Side panels from shipping containers had been laid flat on a grass area and covered with boards, acting as a standing area and entry point for patrons to the makeshift pub set-up.

“As they were packing up, they began using a winch to lift the container panels off the ground,” Walker recalls.

“I had gone to the toilet and was walking out when it (the container wall) came off the winch.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“I tried to sidestep out of the way, but it just happened so fast. It crushed my legs and I was pinned down from my shins. I couldn’t move.

“It’s weird how God created your body. There was no pain. The shock sets in.

“The first thing I thought about was I hope they don’t have to amputate my leg because I love going to the park and being able to kick the ball with the kids. I remember that clear as day.

“And the next thought was, ‘Get this f***ing thing off me’.”

Walker receives emergency treatment after the accident.

THE INJURIES

An army of nearby workers scrambled to lift the container wall. It took an estimated three minutes to free the former Brisbane Broncos star.

Walker only later learned how close he was to death.

“I didn’t know this at the time, but with crushing injuries, after 10 minutes your body can release a chemical, shut down and you die,” Walker tells.

“I was under there for three minutes, so I was effectively seven minutes away from death.

“The ambulance took 40 minutes to get there. I laid there unassisted without painkillers or a green whistle.”

The injuries, and rehabilitation that followed, were horrific.

“At one stage, I was looking at getting my left leg amputated because of the crushing nature of the injury,” says Walker, who spent three days in Townsville hospital and a further two months home-bound.

“My left leg was a mess. It cracked my left patella, snapped the meniscus in my left knee, ruptured the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and I also had a compound fracture, so the bone was sticking out of my left leg.

“I also snapped the tibia in my right leg, so both my legs were broken.

“I had two rods going down both legs. In the 18 months after the accident, I had five surgeries. It always hung over my head that my leg could get infected or I could get gangrene.

“I still haven’t been able to run for two-and-a-half years.”

Walker’s leg pre-surgery.

An X-ray of Walker’s leg showing the surgical repairs.

THE TRAUMA

The physical scars have since healed, but the mental anguish lingers.

Walker, renowned for his larger-than-life larrikinism and cheerful personality, considered taking his life. To this day, he has night terrors and sees a psychologist to help him deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“Rock bottom for me was wanting to tap out on life,” Walker says.

“I was in a really dark place. I had dark thoughts.

“There were a number of days and weeks where I thought, ‘How do I get myself out of this mess?’ My left leg was disfigured.

“I can now almost relate to our soldiers who go to war and might lose a leg fighting for our country and they come back with PTSD.

“I went from being the fittest I’d probably ever been to sitting at home, pissing in a bottle for two months. I couldn’t walk. I’d call on Courtney (his wife) and the kids to give me a hand to get off the couch.

“When they were at work and school, I’d be on the couch alone sitting there by myself, eating junk food.

“I wake up some nights with the bottom of my legs feeling heavy. I shit myself, but the heaviness I feel is just the bed sheets.

“Even now, if I’m driving and I see a truck that has a shipping container on the back, I literally can’t bring myself to drive past.

“I talk to a psychologist to help me deal with it.

“I was given scripts for Oxycodone and Endone (strong painkillers) and you do rely on them because you are in so much pain.

“But you end up abusing them and it becomes this vicious cycle where if you don’t get on top of it, your life can fall apart.”

Chris Walker (L) was prescribed TB-500, a peptide hormone, and primoteston, which helps testosterone deficiency.

THE SOLUTION

Walker was one of the fastest rugby league players of his generation.

Such was his natural talent, he was given his first-grade debut at age 19 by Broncos super coach Wayne Bennett in 1999.

Two years later, the same coach blooded him in the State of Origin arena.

Walker scored a try on debut, two months after his 21st birthday, as ‘Bennett’s Babes’, also featuring Webb, pulled off a massive 34-16 boilover in the opening game of the 2001 series.

Fast forward two decades and Walker was a physical train wreck after the container trauma.

As an athlete, he hated the idea of steroids and couldn’t stand the thought of ever being a drug cheat. So when a personal-trainer friend and his doctor suggested peptides and other substances to help regain strength, Walker was more furious than curious.

“When my mate said to me there were certain things I could take, I kid you not, I felt like f***ing punching him in the face,” Walker said.

“I was walking around like an 80-year-old man.

“We would train together at the gym and I would still be sore three or four days later. I would be in excruciating pain just doing daily activities.

“My mate said, ‘I want you to be open-minded about this, but there are things out there that can help people that have had trauma in their life get back to some sort of normality’.

“He said, ‘There’s testosterone, human growth hormone, peptides ... things if done right, can get you back to some health’.

“I said, ‘Fuck that Dan, I am not being a f***ing drug cheat’. I couldn’t stand blokes who thought they could cheat in the NRL by taking steroids or performance-enhancing drugs.

“I was fighting with my moral compass because I hated other blokes in the NRL who were caught for using drugs.

“About three months later, I was still in pain and struggling. My mate raised it again. I was sick of the physical struggle. By that point, I decided to bite the bullet.

“I saw my doctor and he prescribed me some peptides and testosterone to get me back to a level where I could at least walk properly and play with my kids.

“I did my research on it before I finally made the decision and the decision wasn’t made lightly.

“There is a massive stigma to steroid use and some people might judge me, but I really don’t give a f***.

“If the peptides and other stuff I used are classified as steroids, well so be it.

“The course I took has saved my life. I’m on a path now to happiness. Eighteen months ago, I was on a path to nowhere.”

Walker required pins inserted into his ankle after the accident.

Walker almost had to have his left leg amputated after being crushed by a 700kg container.

THE RECOVERY

Walker was prescribed TB-500, a peptide hormone, and primoteston, which helps testosterone deficiency and is listed as an anabolic agent by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Both substances are banned by WADA.

If Walker was still playing rugby league, he would face a four-year ban under anti-doping rules. The veteran of 151 NRL games now truly understands why such suspensions are in place and why, with the Paris Olympics just a month away, athletes dreaming of gold may opt to push the limits.

“It makes you feel superhuman,” he said.

“If I took this stuff when I was playing for the Broncos, I would have scored 100 tries a season.

“Now I can see why there is a temptation to cheat at the Olympics and in any professional sporting arena.

“The blokes who were cheating other natural guys by being on performance-enhancing drugs are a disgrace.

“My recovery was unbelievable. I could do a weights session in the morning, then go back in the afternoon, then go back at dinner and not wake up sore at all.

“The strength and recovery is unbelievable. It’s actually totally unfair in a professional sporting context.

“There will be some people who will read this and judge me, but this is my story and I wanted to be honest about it.”

Walker says he started taking peptides, in the form of a pill, 11 months ago for a period of six months. He had testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), which involved injections, for 11 months.

Now happy with his physical recovery, Walker has discontinued use and stressed the importance of medical supervision when using steroids or performance-enhancing substances.

“If I hadn’t had that accident, there is no way I would ever go near the stuff,” said Walker, who received professional help from the Krownd Clinic on the Gold Coast.

“I’m not saying I’m an advocate for peptides or steroid use.

“But my only suggestion is you do it right and you go and see a doctor and you do your blood tests and you get monitored regularly.

“I followed the orders of my doctor, we did it carefully and I didn’t abuse it.

“In terms of cost, it was about $1000-2000 a month, which, the way I was drinking, could have been a night out for me.

“These substances have been produced for pharmaceutical reasons.

“Certain athletes abuse them, but they have been manufactured largely for people like me who have gone through trauma.

“I took some pills but I also had to inject myself and I struggled with that.

“Sometimes I had the doctor administer it for me, but at other times I had to inject myself, which I found hard to do.

“There is a stigma in society around injecting yourself with substances, so I had to process a lot of this in my head and tick it off with my own conscience before I was ready to do it.

“Even telling my family I was taking this stuff was confronting because I am so dead against performance-enhancing drugs.

“But I simply couldn’t have carried on with my life the way it was.”

Chris Walker all smiles on his way to scoring a try for the Maroons. Picture: Glenn/Barnes sport rugby league action

THE GROG MONSTER

For more than two decades, Walker lived hard and fast and drank to excess.

In 2007, while at the Titans, he checked into rehab for eight weeks to treat anxiety and alcohol abuse, once confessing he consumed more than 100 drinks during a two-day bender.

Ironically, the devastating pain of his accident was a lightning-rod moment.

He felt his family drifting away as alcohol slowly, imperceptibly, took a grip on him daily. At 43, it was time to grow up. Better late than never.

“I’ve been off the drink 19 months now,” said Walker, who has a daughter Harper, 16, and 13-year-old twins Chase and Narla.

“I did it for my kids and my family.

“When I was growing up, I saw my dad drunk once and I was 18 years of age. I loved and respected my dad so much for that.

“I’ve had alcohol problems my whole life.

“If you want to be a role model for your kids, drinking piss and getting home blind is sadly no good role model.

“I drank for too long and I’m pretty embarrassed about it to be honest. At age 44, there was no possibility I could have even drunk harder or partied harder, so what was I chasing?

“Alcohol had consumed me. It was controlling me. It had taken over my life.

“I am in the top percentage of the population that can’t and shouldn’t drink.

“Every country in the world drinks, but 97 per cent of people can go to the pub and have a few drinks and act responsibly having a good time.

“For me, drinking meant chaos.

“I was waking up ringing people asking what had I done the night before. I had chaos in my life because of alcohol and I can’t tell you how good it is not having alcohol in my life.

“I was neglecting the people in my life who loved me and respected me. I was starting to lose that. I wanted to get that back.

“From then, it’s been the easiest decision I ever made in my life. The chaos has stopped.”

THE FUTURE

Walker chuckles at the paradox of his sobriety at a time when his vodka distillery company is thriving. His vodka is being sold at 3000 venues across Australia.

His distillery is called Sunny Days. It’s an apt name for a man determined not to look in the rear-view mirror; instead focused positively on the road ahead.

“I try not to look back with any regrets,” he says.

“I don’t regret anything I did, at any age, because it’s made me the person I am. It’s not regrets. It’s learning.

“Life is not a straight path. Not many people can say they have gone through life with no ups and downs at all.

“Despite everything that has happened, it could have been far worse and I appreciate what I have.

“I can definitely say the last two-and-a-half years have been the most difficult, trying and yet self-satisfying journey I have ever been on.”

Originally published as Chris Walker opens up on life changing accident, battles with alcohol and use of steroids