Decatur resident recalls road to receiving new heart

Photo by Mike Eckels June Walls celebrates her third anniversary since receiving a new heart on June 2, 2011.
Photo by Mike Eckels June Walls celebrates her third anniversary since receiving a new heart on June 2, 2011.

DECATUR -- Imagine for a second that you are 2,000 miles from home attending a wedding and suddenly you experience a pain in the back part of your shoulder. On the return flight, that pain gives way to more serious symptoms until, after arriving home, you are rushed to the hospital and find that you have suffered a major heart attack.

This very thing happened to June Walls, a former Northside Elementary art teacher and local artist, almost four years ago while attending a wedding in New York City in September of 2010.

Her ordeal started with a sharp pain in her left shoulder while helping with the wedding preparations of a friend. She dismissed it as pain from carrying her laptop to work two weeks earlier and the rigors of her trip.

However, Walls' condition made a dramatic turn for the worse. She began to experience fatigue and nausea during the wedding ceremony and reception. Yet, Walls dismissed it as working and playing too hard on her trip.

Then, on the day she was to return home, as she was checking out of a hotel with her friend, she passed out in the lobby. When she woke up, her friend helped her to her feet. Again she dismissed it as fatigue. But her friend noticed that her color had changed -- she was ashen and pale. He suggested Walls go to the emergency room at a nearby hospital. She refused.

The pair went to hail a cab. When one stopped and they began loading the bags, Walls suddenly grabbed her chest.

"This feels just like I did when I had the mild heart attack," Walls said to her friend.

By this time, concern began to grip her friend. He tried in vain to get her to go to the emergency room.

"No! No! No! I don't want to go; I want to go home," Walls exclaimed. "It's just my back!"

Walls dismissed her illness based on what she had been told by her doctors back in Northwest Arkansas. They told her that most of her problems were minor illnesses and anxiety.

But this was the beginning of a series of events that almost turned fatal for Walls.

At the airport, the symptoms worsened and she began to sweat profusely and vomit. An airline employee called for an emergency medical technician to check Walls. Walls was put into a wheelchair and rolled to a seating area at the flight gate while waiting for an EMT to arrive.

A release form completed by the attending EMT stating the passenger was able to fly was necessary before Walls would be allowed to begin her long journey home. But, while waiting for the checkup, the attending airline employee was called away, leaving Walls alone at the gate. Once again, she made her way to the rest-room to vomit. When she returned, Walls decided to sit in a seat away from the wheel chair, fearing that she might have to spend time in a New York City hospital alone and away from family.

She had only one thing on her mind: to get home -- the second in the series of mistakes she made.

Walls was suffering what many in a similar medical situation experience, denial.

When the flight was announced, Walls boarded the flight with the other passengers, having never received the checkup or the release form.

By this time, she was sweating profusely, nauseous and getting weaker by the minute.

Walls traveled through three airports and several hours of layovers before she finally arrived at Northwest Arkansas Regional. But by the time she arrived in Arkansas, her condition had deteriorated greatly. She waited on a bench in front of the airport for her sister and niece to pick her up.

When Melinda McCollum, Walls' sister, and Ashley McCollum, Walls' niece, arrived at the airport and saw Walls, they both knew something was seriously wrong.

"Do you want to go to the ER?" Melinda asked.

"No, I think I will just wait it out and go to the doctor tomorrow," Walls replied.

For two hours after she was home, Walls found that she could not get comfortable, even lying down. The pain had increased to such a level that she finally called her sister to take her to the emergency room.

Walls went to the hospital in Gravette, still thinking it was nothing more than serious shoulder pain. Upon the preliminary examination, the doctors at Gravette knew Walls was in serious condition and rushed her by air to Mercy Medical Center in Rogers.

At Mercy, Walls learned she had suffered a massive heart attack. Because she had delayed seeking medical attention, her heart had sustained serious damage. In fact, the doctors found a large blood clot that had apparently been in her heart for a some time.

The doctors did a complete exam on Walls and, after putting in a heart stint, released her to home care.

For the last few months of 2010, Walls was in and out of the hospital with congestive heart failure. By December, Walls' doctors advised her to go to St. Luke's Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo.

Once there, Walls was admitted immediately.

"My ejection fraction (the rate the blood is pumped from the heart) was 17," Walls recalled. "A normal person my age is supposed to be 65 to 70; mine was 17!"

After exhaustive exams and removal of several gallons of fluid from around the heart, Walls was told she would need a new heart. On Dec. 23, 2010, two days before Christmas, June Walls was officially placed on the national heart donors' list.

Over the next several months, Walls' condition was growing steadily worse. She had to make frequent trips to Kansas City for checkups and medication. The bills were increasing. Fortunately, Walls' cousins, Tim and Renee Carey who lived in the Kansas City area, helped her obtain the insurance she needed to continue care at St. Luke's. They also provided housing for the family and financial assistance when Walls needed it.

"I couldn't have gotten through this without Tim and Renee," Walls stated. "They, like my mom, Melinda, Ashley, and so many others, contributed so much to get me through this crisis."

While in Kansas City, Walls' sister Melinda was called home for an emergency. Walls knew something was wrong when she tried to call her sister repeatedly over the next several days. Finally, Melinda broke down and told her that their mother, Bernice Walls, had colon cancer. This was another devastating blow for the family.

And to make things even worse, Walls, who was back in Decatur, began to have trouble with an IV pick in her arm. This was in February 2011 during one of the worst ice storms in recent Northwest Arkansas history. Walls managed to get back to Kansas City, where it was found she had developed another blood clot. The event automatically put Walls on the heart waiting list.

"The wait list is where, when you are on the list for a heart and you get an infection or a blood clot or something like that, you have to wait for the transplant," Melinda explained. "You have to wait six weeks before becoming eligible for a heart."

Walls' condition grew steadily worse and, by March of 2011, she was admitted to St. Luke's on a long-term basis until a heart could be found.

On the morning of April 7, with her cousin Ashley by her side, Walls noticed that the staff of St. Luke's was in an upbeat mood as they came into her room. She knew she was finally getting a new heart.

Throughout the day, Walls was being prepped for surgery. However, later that night, the anesthesiologist assigned to Walls' case came in with devastating news.

As it turned out, the heart was bad and, had it been transplanted, would have given Walls a maximum of two years before it would begin to fail.

When her doctors came into the room, it was with more bad news. Walls needed a left ventricular assist device to keep her heart working.

By the evening of April 8, Walls was fitted with the new device which helps circulate blood through the heart and into the body. But, it meant she would miss the benefit that Decatur was having for her on April 9.

At Northside Elementary, where Walls once worked, her friends from Decatur and all over Northwest Arkansas turned out to help raise money for Walls' medical expenses. At the end of the event, over $22,000 was raised, money that would go toward the installation of the LVAD she received the day before.

"I can't say enough about the people of Decatur," Walls said. "They all came together to help one of their own. But I received donations from people in Gentry, Gravette, Bentonville and other places in Northwest Arkansas, as well."

With the addition of the LVAD, Walls went on an exercise and dietary regimen with the help of Melinda. They would walk together every day, with the goal of making her stronger and enabling her to receive a heart sooner. The tactic worked.

While at St. Luke's for a routine exam, Walls had a revelation.

"I'm going to get my heart in June, because my name is June," Walls recalled.

On June 1, 2011, while walking with Melinda, Walls received a call from Pat, a staff member of St. Luke's.

"You remember what day this is?" Pat asked.

"No, I don't," Walls responded.

Then, like a sudden lightening bolt, Walls remembered her revelation.

"They found a heart for me, didn't they," Walls said. "This time I knew it was my heart."

With Ashley at the wheel, Walls, her sister Melinda and her mother were on the road to Kansas City.

By 6 a.m. on June 2, Walls' new heart was transplanted and fully functional. Later that day she was sitting up in a regular hospital bed and eating.

"If this is what normal feels like," Walls said, "then I haven't been normal for a very long time."

When doctors removed Walls' old heart, they found one of the heart valves had completely shut down, putting stress on the other valves. Doctors said Walls' old heart would have completely failed in a matter of months.

"I am an advocate for the American Heart Association, especially women," Walls said. "I've been inducted into the American Heart Association Survivors Hall of Fame. I also am an advocate of organ donations, as well."

If anything is to be learned from Walls' experience, it is not to ignore warning signs that the body is conveying.

"Don't ignore what your body is trying to tell you," Walls said. "It knows when something is wrong and is trying to give you a warning."

It is customary in the case of organ donations to keep the name and identity of the donor and family members of the donor completely anonymous. One of the hardest and bravest parts of letting go of loved ones is to donate their good organs to a complete stranger. In this way, the donor can give life to someone in need.

All Walls knows of her donor is that her heart came from a 14-year-old boy. The circumstances of his death were never revealed.

"To the family of that young boy I give my humble thanks," Walls said with tears in her eyes. "I will always be grateful for the life they gave me."

Heart Attack Symptoms in Women: Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of the chest which lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back; pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach; shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort; and other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

As with men, women's most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain. -- Source: American Heart Association.

General News on 07/09/2014