Such s shame - he was touted as the next big thing for us for a while. hope he gets all the help he can get and can get to spend some quality time with his kids
Really sad.He came from Walthamstow and went to my son's school. Ironically Fabrice Muamba ( who had a cardiac arrest on the pitch at White Hart Lane) was a contempary of his.
He really did have the Indian sign over the Spanners he also scored for both Cheltenham and Orient against them.
Remember him well, looked a real prospect in the U18's but didn't quite push on. I remember he had a heart problem at the time which was not serious enough to stop him playing. Must be tough for his young family. Best wishes.
28th May. There is a match to raise money for James Walker if anyone fancies going along, details on the link below. There will be some ex Charlton lads there I believe including Myles Weston, Kevin Lisbie and Anthony Wordsworth.
Some coincidence that this thread has come up as I saw a tweet earlier this afternoon from Bet365 about Scott Carson winning another league title with City and listing all his titles. They’d missed off his Player of the Year with us (😉) and I just googled to check the year. When Scott won that with us (2006-07) James was awarded the Young Player of the Year nominated by Mark Robson.
I had no idea what had happened to him after he left us, but he seems to have made a good life for himself as a PE Teacher. Such a tragedy that the heart attack has left his in need of constant care. I hope the therapy can help him and his family and make his life a lot easier.
This is something very close to my heart, no pun intended. Trigger Warning for those affected by this subject for the rest of the post.
When my eldest daughter was 12 she had a cardiac arrest in our back garden one Sunday afternoon. No one was with her at the time though my wife must have found her very shortly afterwards. I went into the garden and after a very quick assessment realised she wasn’t breathing so began immediate CPR, thankfully this was something that I received regular training in at work and was not the first time I had done it.
It took just over 10 minutes for the first ambulance to arrive and myself and the paramedics continued CPR with defibrillations every 2 minutes more paramedics arrived and a line was put into her shin bone as her veins had by then collapsed and adrenaline administered into her bone marrow after that and on the fourth shock, her heart went back into a rhythm where it was pumping blood. By this stage her heart had not been pumping and she had not been breathing for at least 22 minutes.
Shortly after this an air ambulance landed in a park behind the house and a doctor and another paramedic came over several neighbours fences to get to us. My daughter was put into an induced coma and onto a ventilator carried in the helicopter. She was still in a critical condition and there was concern that she would go back into cardiac arrest at any point. She was taken to hospital via road with the crew from the air ambulance as it required more people to work on her than could do so in the helicopter.
She remained in a very critical condition for a further 24 hours with constant adjustments to medication and minerals been necessary to keep her alive. Once she was stabilised she was kept in a coma for a further 2 days to give her more time to recover. Then the question turned to what kind of recovery would she make and significantly what level of brain damage she would have sustained and now her life for the time being at least was saved, how much of our daughter would we be getting back. This visited a new level of terror on me and also a terrible feeling that I was responsible for whatever that outcome would be, certainly the first ten minutes were on me.
One morning she was taken off the ventilator then the medication that was keeping her unconscious was slowly withdrawn. Her first response was to try and move her head, and I said her name and she turned her head towards me, causing me to quickly remove the mask I was wearing as she attempted to open her eyes. This was positive, she could still hear and move her head towards the sound. She then went back to sleep for a time and then opened her eyes. A doctor asked her to raise her right leg and she didn’t respond, I had a feeling she might be not sure which leg was which so asked her to raise any leg and her right leg came up. This was really positive, she could not only hear but also understand and had control of her limbs. Over the next 24 hours as the meds wore off we got our daughter back almost exactly the same as when she had left us. She had no significant further disability from the cardiac arrest (she already had a few).
The purpose of this really long post on this thread is to show that alongside that tragic story of James Walker and the after effects of his cardiac arrest it isn’t always like this for everyone. But please read and respond to this next bit. Learn CPR, keep up to date with refreshers. Encourage your family and friends to do likewise. If you are responsible for a team at work ensure they receive the training too. You don’t know if, when or where you might need it. But more importantly you don’t know who you might need to use it on, it could be one of the people most precious to you.
If you come across anyone in any circumstance who are not breathing normally and are unconscious call for help and start CPR, don’t worry you will hurt them if you do nothing and they are in cardiac arrest they will die or lose their chance of a normal life if it is started later. Only 10% of people who have an out of hospital cardiac arrest survive in any way. It is estimated that 50% could survive with good immediate CPR. To put that into context in one year in the uk the number of people who could be saved would fill The Valley.
There is only one thing more frightening to me than the thought of having to do CPR on either of my children again and that is that they will need it and there will be no one their who does it.
Hard to know what to say there @Gary Poole. Your daughter, and by the sounds of it she isn’t the only one, is very lucky that you knew what you’re doing. Fantastic that she made the recovery that she has and your message is absolutely spot on. We all should know basic CPR and be ready to use it.
Wow, @Gary Poole that is quite a post. I am glad your daughter recovered, what a terrifying experience but your words on learning CPR are so important.
Separately, maybe a mod could change the title of the thread to "Fundraiser Match for James Walker, 28 May"
Sorry to hear about James Walker and thanks @GarryPoole for sharing your personal story about your daughter and how important CPR can be.
About 17 years ago I went to watch Whyteleafe mens team v Charlton academy team of mainly the 18 age youth. From memory James Walker, Simon Walton, Myles Weston, a full back called Saunders and a young 16 year old called Scott Wagstaff played. Just the 5 player I can recall ! Mark Kinsella was the Coach and after 0-0 draw where Charlton had so many shots off target the Whyteleafe coach said he would invoice Cafc for the lost balls ! Strange the things you remember after going to thousands of matches from Premier League to local League.
James and Myles looked similar, same age, and both being forwards were difficult to tell apart. Walton was the eldest in the team that evening and was known as we paid big money for him. Had to check and Simon Walton is 37 and still playing at Havant and Waterlooville.
Both Simon Walton and James Walker never played a 1st team match for cafc and were journeyman footballers despite both playing for England teenage sides. James did later play for Antigua and Barbuda
Life is so random and cruel that a young man like James who had found a new career as a PE teacher had a life changing illness.
Comments
hope he gets all the help he can get and can get to spend some quality time with his kids
He really did have the Indian sign over the Spanners he also scored for both Cheltenham and Orient against them.
There is a match to raise money for James Walker if anyone fancies going along, details on the link below. There will be some ex Charlton lads there I believe including Myles Weston, Kevin Lisbie and Anthony Wordsworth.
https://www.shrimperstrust.co.uk/suepa/a-match-for-james/
It took just over 10 minutes for the first ambulance to arrive and myself and the paramedics continued CPR with defibrillations every 2 minutes more paramedics arrived and a line was put into her shin bone as her veins had by then collapsed and adrenaline administered into her bone marrow after that and on the fourth shock, her heart went back into a rhythm where it was pumping blood. By this stage her heart had not been pumping and she had not been breathing for at least 22 minutes.
Shortly after this an air ambulance landed in a park behind the house and a doctor and another paramedic came over several neighbours fences to get to us. My daughter was put into an induced coma and onto a ventilator carried in the helicopter. She was still in a critical condition and there was concern that she would go back into cardiac arrest at any point. She was taken to hospital via road with the crew from the air ambulance as it required more people to work on her than could do so in the helicopter.
She remained in a very critical condition for a further 24 hours with constant adjustments to medication and minerals been necessary to keep her alive. Once she was stabilised she was kept in a coma for a further 2 days to give her more time to recover. Then the question turned to what kind of recovery would she make and significantly what level of brain damage she would have sustained and now her life for the time being at least was saved, how much of our daughter would we be getting back. This visited a new level of terror on me and also a terrible feeling that I was responsible for whatever that outcome would be, certainly the first ten minutes were on me.
One morning she was taken off the ventilator then the medication that was keeping her unconscious was slowly withdrawn. Her first response was to try and move her head, and I said her name and she turned her head towards me, causing me to quickly remove the mask I was wearing as she attempted to open her eyes. This was positive, she could still hear and move her head towards the sound. She then went back to sleep for a time and then opened her eyes. A doctor asked her to raise her right leg and she didn’t respond, I had a feeling she might be not sure which leg was which so asked her to raise any leg and her right leg came up. This was really positive, she could not only hear but also understand and had control of her limbs. Over the next 24 hours as the meds wore off we got our daughter back almost exactly the same as when she had left us. She had no significant further disability from the cardiac arrest (she already had a few).
The purpose of this really long post on this thread is to show that alongside that tragic story of James Walker and the after effects of his cardiac arrest it isn’t always like this for everyone. But please read and respond to this next bit. Learn CPR, keep up to date with refreshers. Encourage your family and friends to do likewise. If you are responsible for a team at work ensure they receive the training too. You don’t know if, when or where you might need it. But more importantly you don’t know who you might need to use it on, it could be one of the people most precious to you.
If you come across anyone in any circumstance who are not breathing normally and are unconscious call for help and start CPR, don’t worry you will hurt them if you do nothing and they are in cardiac arrest they will die or lose their chance of a normal life if it is started later. Only 10% of people who have an out of hospital cardiac arrest survive in any way. It is estimated that 50% could survive with good immediate CPR. To put that into context in one year in the uk the number of people who could be saved would fill The Valley.
There is only one thing more frightening to me than the thought of having to do CPR on either of my children again and that is that they will need it and there will be no one their who does it.
Separately, maybe a mod could change the title of the thread to "Fundraiser Match for James Walker, 28 May"
@cabbles @AFKABartram
About 17 years ago I went to watch Whyteleafe mens team v Charlton academy team of mainly the 18 age youth.
From memory James Walker, Simon Walton, Myles Weston, a full back called Saunders and a young 16 year old called Scott Wagstaff played. Just the 5 player I can recall !
Mark Kinsella was the Coach and after 0-0 draw where Charlton had so many shots off target the Whyteleafe coach said he would invoice Cafc for the lost balls ! Strange the things you remember after going to thousands of matches from Premier League to local League.
James and Myles looked similar, same age, and both being forwards were difficult to tell apart.
Walton was the eldest in the team that evening and was known as we paid big money for him.
Had to check and Simon Walton is 37 and still playing at Havant and Waterlooville.
Both Simon Walton and James Walker never played a 1st team match for cafc and were journeyman footballers despite both playing for England teenage sides.
James did later play for Antigua and Barbuda
Life is so random and cruel that a young man like James who had found a new career as a PE teacher had a life changing illness.