Nicky Furbert Fox knows a lot about loss.

Her son Ricco Furbert was shot dead in a double murder last year. In 2009, her father died of cancer and her brother was killed in a cycle crash. Cancer also took her mother, just over a year later.

All this as she struggled to turn her life around following a drug addiction and a brief period in jail.

Faith and fitness helped her cope.

The 46-year-old dropped from a size 13 to a size zero and showed off her muscular physique at the annual Night of Champions this summer.

“The event was more personal for me than just the show itself,” she said. “For me, to be able to achieve something so drastic after experiencing something so devastating, it felt extremely good.

“It wasn’t easy by any means, the weights got heavier and the food got lighter, and the dieting was also tough, but I remained focused and I accomplished what I had set out to so I am really grateful for that.”

Mrs Furbert Fox’s fitness journey actually began back in October 2006.

“I couldn’t do it any more,” she said of her drug addiction. “I didn’t like who I had become after a while. I was depressed all the time. I lived in a deep, dark world and was just so spiritually broken.

“I was praying for a way out and God sent four angels, which were the bailiffs who brought me to jail for a civil matter.

“I spent three months in jail and when I came out I started going to a 12-step programme to get off of drugs for good.”

She started walking and running after her release from prison and joined the energetic dance class, Zumba.

And then her father died. And then her brother.

“Relapse wasn’t an option and I never thought of picking up, of going back to my old lifestyle,” she said.

“I pray every day and at that time I prayed for God’s will to be done and for God to give me His strength.

“I was responsible for my mom and my three boys (Ricco, Skyah and Zachary) who looked up to me and depended on me a lot. Our relationship was getting stronger and stronger with each day, so that kept me focused.”

A year-and-a-half later, her mother died of cancer. Ricco, 25, and Haile Outerbridge, 34, were murdered in Belvin’s Variety on Happy Valley Road, Pembroke, in January of last year. “I remember that night so clearly, sitting in that hospital room and the doctor came in and said [my son] didn’t make it,” she said.

“I remember praying for two things, a forgiving heart and peace of mind, because I knew from that moment this was something bigger than me and if I didn’t forgive right away I would live in a dark world, not necessarily of addiction, but of hatred, anger and revenge. I’ve already had to come out of a world of such darkness and I didn’t want to lose sight of the light that I’m living in now.”

Mrs Furbert Fox found a way to keep busy after the tragedy when someone recommended she start training for the Night of Champions.

“At first I said ‘No way’, but then my workout buddy, Tresca Trott, decided to train for it, so I gave in and started training with her.

“We went to personal trainer Ross Caesar at Seaview Gym starting in November of last year and that was the first time I had ever really lifted weights.”

She made it through with help from her husband, Clark Fox, friends at Seaview and running coach Komlah Foggo. “The great thing about that is it kept me focused on something positive after Ricco. I knew God was blessing me for a reason and giving me the strength each day to just get up out of bed, so I knew I couldn’t just stay still. I had to give it everything I had.”

She said getting up on stage for the August competition was a huge milestone in her life.

“I knew it wasn’t about me. It’s about those around me who I could impact,” she said. “That’s why I go on and keep my head up.

“I know I need to be there for my two sons who need a strong role model and motivator to help them during any crisis they might come up against. I feel like if I can rise above any adversity in life, they can too.”

Mrs Furbert Fox said her advice to anyone who’s been through hardship is not to give up.

“Trust in God whenever you’re weak because He will provide you with strength,” she explained.

“For months, every day, I just tried to put one foot in front of the other and let God do the rest. Whenever it got too hard I leaned on God, but I also had to do my part and get up first.”