Carmel “Rockie” Walker (1966–1990)

Carmel Walker was the first Arkansan to receive a heart transplant. At the age of eighteen, Walker was diagnosed with congestive cardiomyopathy, a condition that prevents the heart from properly pumping blood. She received her new heart on May 2, 1984.

Carmel “Rockie” Walker was born on February 12, 1966, to George Walker and Hildred Flakes Walker. She had two sisters and a brother and lived in Little Rock (Pulaski County). Her parents divorced in 1971, and her father married Hazel Griffin in 1973. Her mother worked as a babysitter at Westside Tennis Club, and her father was a building maintenance superintendent. Walker worked part-time through a work-study program at a local McDonald’s while attending Joe T. Robinson High School; she was previously a student at Central High School and Hall High School. Her family gave her the nickname “Rockie” (referring to fictional pro boxer Rocky Balboa of movie fame) due to the strength she maintained while dealing with complications from her heart condition.

On December 24, 1983, Walker was hospitalized due to her illness and was not responding to treatment. She was given a prognosis of approximately three months to live without a new heart. In April 1984, the Walker family published a notice in the Arkansas Gazette that Walker had a form of congestive heart failure, and they needed to find a heart donor to save her life. The family continued to appeal to the community to assist with locating an organ donor and paying the associated medical costs.

The Arkansas Gazette reported that Walker received the necessary organ donation after a fourteen-year-old girl from Cleveland, Ohio, died in an accident. Walker’s three-and-a-half-hour transplant surgery was performed on May 2, 1984, by Dr. David McGiffin at the University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham. Fundraising efforts ramped up at this time. Governor Bill Clinton presented Walker’s father with a get-well card and $10,000 donation from the Central Arkansas McDonald Restaurants’ owner-operated group during an early May 1984 press conference at the Arkansas State Capitol.

Her mother’s workplace, Westside Tennis Club (which later became the Little Rock Athletic Club), committed to raising $10,000 for Walker’s transplant and medical expenses. Her father’s workplace, the Danny Thomas Company, also began raising funds to assist with Walker’s medical care, donating $25,000 to the cause.

Little Rock newspapers followed Walker’s story throughout her recovery and reported that she returned home about three months after the operation. On April 28, 1986, the Arkansas Gazette published a feature on Walker, including updates on her health and the impact the operation had had on her life. She expressed a desire to be more independent and have a normal life. She wanted to work at a fulfilling job but would lose Social Security benefits if she earned $65 or more a month. She shared that the limitations sometimes caused her to feel depressed, but she was thankful for the second chance at life that she had received through the heart transplant.

Walker died on September 5, 1990, in Little Rock at the age of twenty-four. A week earlier, she had been hospitalized due to a virus and dehydration, and her body ultimately rejected the donated heart. She is buried at Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock.

For additional information:
“Club Raises $9,600 for Heart Transplant.” Arkansas Democrat, June 4, 1984, p. 1B.

Cox, Sandra. “First Heart Transplant Recipient from State Dies.” Arkansas Democrat, September 7, 1990, p. 8B.

“Family Seeking Heart Donor for LR Student.” Arkansas Gazette, April 20, 1984, p. 3A.

“Girl Undergoes Heart Surgery.” Arkansas Democrat, May 3, 1984, p. 3B.

“Heart Recipient, 18, Taken Off Respirator, Breathing on Own.” Arkansas Gazette, May 5, 1984, p. 18A.

Hewitt, Vonnie. “Carmel Walker.” Arkansas Democrat, September 7, 1990, p. 8B.

“Life ‘Precious, Valuable’ for Transplant Recipient.” Arkansas Democrat, June 3, 1985, p. 3B.

“LR Student Undergoes Heart Transplant; Hospital Reports Good Recovery.” Arkansas Gazette, May 4, 1984, p. 16A.

“McDonald’s Group Gives $10,000 for Arkansan’s Heart Transplant.” Arkansas Democrat, May 8, 1984, p. 1B.

“Miss Carmel Walker.” Arkansas Gazette, September 9, 1990, p. 10B.

“New Beginnings through Heart Transplants.” Ebony Magazine, February 1985, pp. 85–90.

“Recipient of News Heart ‘Doing Fine.’” Arkansas Gazette, June 22, 1984, p. 8A.

“State’s First Heart Recipient Fighting for Health, Happiness, against Debt.” Arkansas Gazette, April 28, 1986, pp. 1B, 2B.

“Transplant Recipient Considering Medical Career.” Arkansas Democrat, February 17, 1985, p. 3G.

Walker, Kimberly. “Carmel Walker, 24, 1st from State to Get Heart Transplant, Dies.” Arkansas Gazette, September 7, 1990, p. 10B.

Staff of the CALS Bobby L. Roberts Library of Arkansas History and Art