Carrying the torch

Deirdre Newman

Janie Walker has suffered two severe injuries and rebounded from both

of them.

Walker’s resilience landed her a historic spot on the first-ever

global Olympic Torch Relay. She 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 was nominated because she is an inspiration to others and

has 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, she 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.”