Waukesha woman set on fire by stranger thriving 2 years after attack
Waukesha woman set on fire by stranger thriving 2 years after attack
Amber Fuller remembers so much about the morning of Sept. 2, 2020. It was a beautiful late summer morning and Fuller, a massage therapist, was walking her two dogs around her Waukesha neighborhood before leaving for work. She would not make it to her appointments that day.
WAUKESHA, Wis. - Amber Fuller remembers so much about the morning of Sept. 2, 2020. It was a beautiful late summer morning and Fuller, a massage therapist, was walking her two dogs around her Waukesha neighborhood before leaving for work. She would not make it to her appointments that day.
A man Fuller had never seen approached her, covered her with a flammable liquid and set her on fire. She remembers the fear, the shock and the intense pain.
She remembers motorists stopping to help. She remembers the kindness of the Waukesha police officers who assured her they would get her dogs safely home but that she had to get into the ambulance.
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The man who attacked her, Joel Murn, didn’t know Fuller. He mistook her for a cousin he was trying to harm because of some long-standing family grudge. He was arrested, convicted and is serving an almost 40-year prison sentence.
Joel Murn
Fuller was left with serious burns on her arms and torso. She didn’t have insurance, and her injuries meant it would be a long time before she could make a living again.
Let’s fast-forward to December 2022: Amber Fuller is thriving. She’s back working, her recovery is ongoing and her outlook on life is a lesson for all.
"(The pain) is temporary as long as you can do your self-care, focus on your mental health and get back out there and live life again and do it even bigger than you did before," she told FOX6 News in a recent interview.
Amber Fuller
Fuller is backing up those words by living a life of both grace and enthusiasm. She walks daily past the spot of the attack, but she’s reached the point that she doesn’t think about it every time, and when she does, she puts it in perspective. She holds no anger toward her attacker and insists she really thinks of him at all.
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"When I do, I have pity for him," said Fuller. "He had his troubles."
She decided early in her healing process that she wanted to be defined not by what happened to her, but rather, how she responded.
Amber Fuller
"I didn’t want to turn into someone who had that much hate in their heart for other people," said Fuller.
Through therapy and burn survivor groups, she’s learned to turn the worst day of her life into an excuse to live life on her terms. Every Sept. 2, she celebrates her "burniversary" by creating fun memories to replace the tragic ones.
Amber Fuller
Fuller jumped out of an airplane on a tandem dive her first year and spent part of her second "burniversary" relaxing in a float tank. She even posed for a glamour photo session baring her scars with pride for how she’s handled that horrific attack.
Amber Fuller
"It was my way to remind myself that I’m still beautiful, that you might look different on the outside, but seeing these pictures, I never felt more beautiful in my life," said Fuller.
Does she wish that day never happened? Of course, she does, but she also knows it gave her a perspective she might not have today.
"It definitely brought out a strength in me that I didn’t know I had," said Fuller.