Mark Anthony Baker Nomination For Inspirational leader of the year in Jersey By David Tomes

Mark Anthony Baker Nomination For Inspirational leader of the year

By David Tomes

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The Dark Beginnings

What would you do if you were subjected to nearly two decades of abuse and torture? This is not just a hypothetical question; it’s the grim reality that my friend Mark Anthony Baker faced. Mark grew up in an environment so hostile that it was designed to break him. His father, a man who should have been his protector, instead became his greatest tormentor, drilling into Mark’s young mind that he would never amount to anything, that he was unworthy of love.

By the time he was just eighteen, Mark had survived three attempts on his life. His trauma-ridden mind, desperate for some semblance of safety, clung to the hope that things would get better when he turned twenty. At just ten years old, he reasoned that the fastest way to reach that safe haven was to go to bed early, every night, hoping that sleep would make the days disappear faster. He couldn’t sleep, so he turned to his imagination, unknowingly practising what we now recognise as visualisation—a powerful psychological tool for transforming limiting beliefs.

On his eighteenth birthday, his parents finally divorced, a bittersweet event that left Mark homeless, living out of his car at a beach car park. Despite these unimaginable challenges, he adapted. Mark would dive into the sea for a morning wash, iron his shirt on the hot bonnet of his car, and head to work. He became the youngest manager in the store’s history where he worked, a remarkable feat for someone who had been so wilfully and deliberately broken.

The Turning Point

But Mark’s story doesn’t end with survival—it’s about transformation. Struggling with the psychological scars of his past, Mark began studying psychology to understand his actions. He self-harmed to release his pain and in his studies learned that children who self-harm often blame themselves for their parents' troubles—a belief his father had cruelly instilled in him.

Yet, despite this self-awareness, Mark still grappled with a deep-seated lack of self-belief. It wasn’t until he had children of his own that the true turning point came. One evening, after reading bedtime stories to his two little girls, Mark had a profound realisation. He looked at their angelic faces, full of potential, and felt a deep sorrow. How could he teach them self-belief when he had so little himself?

This question haunted him, until one night, he had a dream. In the dream, a little girl, much like his own, was miserable because she struggled with math. Her father took her to an old wise man who gave her a magical bracelet. When she pressed it against her wrist, the word “BELIEVE” appeared. The wise man told her that the belief wasn’t on her wrist—it was within her.

That very day, he invented a bracelet modelled after the one in his dream. He retold the story of the little girl to his daughter who was struggling with self-belief, then he presented the bracelet he had made for her and asked her to press it down on her wrist and asked her what it said . she smiled knowingly and said, “The belief is within me, Daddy.” This moment sparked a movement. Mark’s bracelet became a tool to help parents instil self-belief in their children all over the world—a simple yet profound way to ensure that they never felt as lost as he once had. Which was his underlying mission in life.

The Legacy of Hope

Mark’s story could have ended there, but life had more challenges in store. After his daughter’s final year of college, Mark collapsed, initially dismissed as stress. But his instincts told him otherwise. After months of misdiagnosis, it was discovered that Mark had testicular cancer and an aggressive form of lymphoma, giving him less than a 15% chance of survival due to its late detection.

Yet, against all odds, Mark became the only known person in the world to survive his dire prognosis. Refusing to be defined by his illness, he turned his attention to others battling cancer, using his experience to bring hope and resilience to thousands. Even after another? recent bout with cancer, which he successfully overcame thanks to vigilant monitoring, Mark’s first thoughts were not of himself but of how he could use his experiences to help others.

As soon as he was diagnosed and experienced the many challenges cancer sufferers in Jersey faced, he formed “Santas Bikers” The Santa clad group of motorcyclists we all see every Christmas as they ride around the island raising much needed money for Jersey Cancer Relief and The Variety Club of Jersey raising money for underprivileged Jersey children which is now in its 12th year.

Mark experienced what no child should ever experience, and endured so much as an adult that would break most of us. But what came from those incredible and often unspeakable experiences was a gift that he could give others that was only made possible from having those experiences. He always knows exactly what to say which is usually a mixture of his psychological knowledge and the wisdom from the experiences he endured.

For me the most incredible thing I witnessed when he had a conversation with a woman that would ultimately save her life outside a pub after a music festival which was so surreal to witness that it was hard for me to register what actually happened that night. It all started with a humorous hat I was wearing with dozens of Cookie Monster faces on it.

Another festival goer, a lady in a mobility scooter stopped alongside of us as we sat outside the pub at 1 a.m. in the morning, she told me she liked my hat, and I asked her if she would like to have it.

She seemed a little shocked at my offer but accepted it as Mark looked on.

Mark asked her if he minded telling him what caused her to be on a mobility scooter.

She replied that she had been left in a hallway on a bed for two days in hospital and that when she eventually went to stand up that she could no longer walk, she was very upset and angry as she reiterated the story.

Mark told her that she should not let it define her or allow her to see herself as a victim or life would become dyed by those thoughts.

She was already very angry and responded with “But I am a victim”.

“How is that helping you.” Mark asked.

She immediately softened and that hard lined look on her face just seemed to disappear.

Mark leant over to her really close and started to talk to her about belief and how it played a major role in recovery, he told her how people with terminal illnesses often just wanted to see another Christmas but then died shortly after, as she nodded in agreement.??

“Why do they do that” he asked her whilst shaking his head in frustration as he spoke. ??

I don’t know she replied, why do you think?

Mark said to her, they saw another Christmas because they believed they would see one more and then died because that’s as far as their belief to survive went, why didn’t they decide to see 5 or 10 more Christmases, because their belief was they could have just one more and it became a self-fulfilling prophecy. They didn’t believe they could see more than the next one.

He went on talking to her for about twenty minutes in the same vein and then at the end she grabbed hold of his face and pulled his face right into hers. She stared into his eyes without speaking for several minutes with tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

She kept saying thank you over and over again , but then she said something that I wasn’t expecting. She told Mark in front of me that this festival was her last hurrah? with her friends, she went onto say that she had been planning to end her life as soon as she got home and that everything was already prepared. There was a shard of glass on the kitchen? table to cut her wrists and a mug of tablets she had collected over a few months and a note to stick on her front door informing her carer not to enter and to call the police.

Mark got her to believe in the possibility of walking again and it gave her the will to live, she had given up all hope and was just hours away from ending her life.

It turned out that she did walk again as it was only a psychological condition that prevented her from walking, her legs packed up because she was left on a trolley and she didn’t believe that she could ever walk again so she didn’t. Not a single doctor she spoke to could give her any hope of walking again.

She just believed that she could and decided to try and she did. They are still in contact now and I saw her at the concert a year later, happy, and able to walk. Sometimes all any of us need is the belief that we can do something and as simple as it sounds that is what Mark did.

She was in a physical wheelchair, but it was only a mental wheelchair that prevented her from walking again. That is the miracle of self-belief.

That is why he invented the bracelet and has dedicated his life to helping people of all ages especially young children during their formative years discover the miracle of self-belief.

Mark Anthony Baker is more than a survivor; he’s an inspirational leader. He has taken the darkest parts of his life and transformed them into a beacon of hope for others. His books, “An Unbreakable Spirit” and “The Imprint Phenomenon,” have become guides for those looking to unlock the power of belief and resilience. World IBO Boxing Champion Billy Schwer refers to Mark as “the man who taught the world how to believe.”

Mark’s life is a testament to the power of belief, resilience, and the incredible impact one person can have on the world. I hope this brief account is enough to recognise the incredible gifts Mark has given to others, without ever expecting anything in return.

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