Carrying the torch

Deirdre Newman

Janie Walker has suffered two severe injuries and rebounded from both

of them. Doug Hansen and his wife started a charity to help children

with disabilities since their daughter is disabled.

Walker’s resilience and Hansen’s devotion landed them historic

spots on the first-ever global Olympic Torch Relay. They will join

other torchbearers selected by Coca-Cola, who will walk or run

through the streets of Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta and New York

City from June 16 to 19.

Walker and Hansen were nominated because they are an inspiration

to others and have a positive effect on other people’s lives.

“I think she’s probably one of the most incredible and

inspirational people that I’ve ever met,” David Walker, said of his

wife, Janie. “That’s why I nominated her. She doesn’t let any problem

stop her from fulfilling her obligations, no matter what it is.”

Janie Walker, a former Costa Mesa police officer, suffered two

severe injuries in the past 12 years. She was hit by a drunk driver

while on patrol in 1992. The collision caused a severe concussion,

which caused problems with speech, memory and cognitive abilities.

The 49-year-old participated in speech therapy and cognitive

rehabilitation, enabling her to retrain her brain.

Then, five years later, taking care of horses up in the Tulare

mountains, she was thrown from a horse as she was trying to prevent

an American flag she was holding from touching the ground. Her spinal

cord was smashed, she broke four vertebrae and shattered another one.

“It was a pretty serious injury,” she said. “I’m not Catholic, but

they read me my last rites twice. That was a little scary.”

The doctor told her family that she might not be able to walk

again, but knowing Janie Walker, they didn’t buy it.

“My daughter ... every day in the hospital, she kept saying,

‘don’t listen to the doctors, they don’t know what they’re talking

about. You’re going to walk again and you’re going to ride Duster

again,’” Janie Walker said. “I remember crying.”

After going through aqua therapy, Walker was able to regain the

use of her legs and now coaches softball at Liberty Christian High

School in Huntington Beach. She also volunteers as an advisor for the

Coast Mesa Police Explorers program.

While her husband submitted the torchbearer nomination, her

daughter, Jamie, helped him write it, Janie Walker said. She said she

is honored to be a torchbearer.

“Hopefully, I can be an inspiration to other people that might

have either suffered injury or some type of adversity in their life

-- just don’t give up,” she said. “I’m so excited and [am] such an

incredibly patriotic person.”

Her fellow torchbearer has a very different, but equally uplifting

story.

Hansen’s his 3-year-old daughter, Angel, was born with multiple

birth defects and can’t communicate and can’t walk, he said. He and

his wife, Jennifer, created Angel’s Charity, which raises money for

children with multiple birth defects.

On April 3, he ran and walked for 24 hours and raised more than

$35,000 for the charity. The 37-year-old father is also working with

city officials to build a park for disabled children.

He wanted to push Angel in a baby jogger during the torch relay,

but the rules would not allow it, he said.

“It will be a wonderful experience, but I’m kind of torn because

I’ve tried to include Angel in all the running things I’ve done,” he

said.

The rest of the global torchbearers will be selected through the

Organization Committee for the Olympic Games Athens 2004 and Samsung,

the relay’s co-presenter, to enable the torch to circle the earth.