"I know what it’s like to anxiously sleep in a chair in a hospital and, back then, you could not stay with the baby overnight — it was really hard.
"There was a real separation anxiety."
That feeling had never left Mrs Walker’s mind and this has helped her to support and help, for the past decade, about 1200 families while they stayed at Southland Hospital’s Ronald McDonald Family Rooms.
Yesterday, Mrs Walker celebrated 10 years as supervisor of the facility.
"It’s huge really, and probably the most exciting thing is when you meet up with those families, and all of a sudden you realise that some of those children are now 9, 10 years old and they left here as a tiny little baby.
"They’ve just grown and come through."
Mrs Walker had been working at the space — which provides free accommodation and support to families with children in hospital — since before its inception.
She took care of four family rooms at the Ronald McDonald facility and treated the families who came to the space with respect and kindness, as if it was her own home.
But that was only possible through the support of volunteers and the community getting behind the concept of the family room, she said.
"Every family is treated the same, it doesn’t matter, you know where they come from, what the situation is.
"It’s just nice that you can give them that little bit of kindness and of course the community helps support all those nice things that we can do for families as well."
Mrs Walker was really passionate about the work, as she could see how it could be a life-changing time for families.
Her favourite thing about it was the people she met along the way and her biggest lesson was to never take anything for granted.
"I learned that nobody ever knows what’s ahead of them and that applies to everyone.
"Life isn’t perfect and things happen ... but it is about what you take out from those experiences — so don’t ever take anything for granted."
