Married to
PTSD ‘ ife
emotional ro
42 l WhoA
ustralian Federal Police Commander
Grant Edwards has been an elite
athlete, Olympic qualifier and in
1999 won the title of Australia’s
Strongest Man. In 2010, he met Kate
Lord, a school teacher and personal trainer, and
they had a daughter, Jacinta. But the stresses of
his police work, which included establishing
cybercrime units to fight child exploitation
and human trafficking, as well as working in
war-torn East Timor and Afghanistan, affected
the now 48-year-old’s mental health. In his
memoir ‘The Strong Man’, Edwards recalls
how, after being tormented by nightmares, guilt
and suicidal thoughts, he was diagnosed with
PTSD. In an edited extract from the book, Lord
writes about how this common mental health
illness impacted their family.Anyone with a partner who is suffering from
post-traumatic stress disorder willCOURTESY GRANT EDWARDS (5)Throwing the
hammer at the
ES Marks Athletics
Field, Sydney,
in 1989.Grant Edwards with
his wife Kate ‘Lordy’
Lord in their beloved
Green Bay Packers
NFL team jerseys.After taking up
powerlifting in
1994, Edwards
placed second
at the nationals
a year later.o