Vitl's rollerskating star

Amelia Dixon is a 26-year-old full-time carer and the roller-skating sensation that features in our new TV advert. 

She glides across the screen in effortless fashion, looking care-free with a glow that radiates health and happiness. Anyone watching this advert for the first time would look on at Amelia in awe; a picture of someone who loves every aspect of life and what it has to offer. 

But who is our star? Like every story, there is more going on behind the scenes than you could even begin to imagine. 

Having discovered a love of roller skating at the age of 14, Amelia was diagnosed with scoliosis just one year later and needed to have urgent surgery. Talking about this experience, she said “skating gave me the freedom as a child to just dance and be silly. It was incredibly hard having this taken away, but you’re resilient as a child and I knew that there was a cure for what I was going through.”

After having successful surgery, Amelia took 10 years away from skating and instead focused on her dream of becoming a dancer. Amelia studied at West Herts College in Watford for just under a year before learning the news that her mum had suffered from a stroke. 

Amelia said “I had my end of first year show the night before and I tried to call my mum and she wasn’t speaking properly over the phone. I didn’t know if she was at home or in a ditch somewhere. I rang my friend, who rang the doorbell at home and I could hear it through my mum’s line so I knew she was in there.”

“My life was just completely put on pause. I really lost myself. I didn’t dance. I didn’t skate. I couldn’t even get myself dressed.”

From that point on, Amelia’s mum spent more than a year in two different hospitals, a rehabilitation centre as well as three separate care homes, before Amelia decided it was time to take matters into her own hands and look after her mum herself. The 26-year-old looks after her mum in a one-bedroom, 6th floor council flat in London, which is still yet to be made suitable for her mum’s disability by the local council. 

Amelia says that she “calls [the council] almost every day to try and get some sort of support.” Continuing, she said “I know my mum is better off with me than in a care home as I can see the improvements she’s making each day. Despite everything we’ve been through, I’m incredibly fortunate to have an independent mum. She can feed herself but she does still need help with showering and getting dressed.”

Despite her dream of being a dancer now taking a backseat, Amelia still manages to find time to accommodate her love of skating into her life. 

“Luckily, I have CCTV in my flat and my mum has an alarm should she ever need me”, she said. “Just being able to have that peace of mind that if I do ever leave the house she’s not ever alone means the world. She has spent a lot of time getting upset and feeling guilty for me missing out on a lot of my young adult life, but I’m so appreciative for the time I get to spend with her every day. I don’t have to go to a 9-5 job that I get anxious about. Instead, I get to spend time with my mum, helping her to practice her speech, creating things like jewellery and even finding time to watch films together. It’s a blessing.”  

When Amelia heard that we were looking for a roller skater to feature in our new TV advert through social media, she knew that this was an opportunity she simply couldn’t turn down. She “had never applied for anything like this before” she explained, saying “when I found out I was chosen I honestly couldn’t believe that I was going to be on TV. I just can’t wait to show my mum – she’s going to be so proud.”

Our first ever TV campaign is now live! Catch us on Channel 4 over the next month.