Twelve years ago, Julie Walker “got the phone call that every parent absolutely dreads,” finding out her daughter Peyton was taken to the hospital by ambulance, and after a two-hour drive to the hospital, Walker was told Peyton passed away due to sudden cardiac arrest.

Now, the Penn State graduate is honoring her daughter’s goal to work in healthcare through the Peyton Walker Foundation with the hopes of informing others of sudden cardiac arrest.

Peyton Walker was studying to become a physician assistant at King’s College in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, and after her life was cut short, her family took action by creating a non-profit in her name.

“We knew Peyton wanted to work in healthcare, and it was such a tragic and unexpected loss that we had suffered, and I couldn’t stand by and do nothing. We knew we had to do something. We had to do something to try to save other families from suffering such a devastating loss,” Julie Walker said.

“Over the years, it’s been incredibly rewarding. We have saved lives,” she continued. “We’ve taught people how to do CPR. They’ve used the CPR to save somebody’s life. We’ve donated AEDs, and we know several of the AEDs we’ve donated have been used to shock someone’s heart and bring them back to life.”

The goal of the Peyton Walker Foundation is to inform people about the unknown impacts of sudden cardiac arrest and to provide resources to communities, such as defibrillators and CPR training, which has been made possible through partnerships and donations.

The organization also created the “Huddle For Hearts” campaign to spread the foundation’s message to a more specific community of athletes, coaches, parents, and others involved in sports. Sudden cardiac arrest is the No. 1 killer of student-athletes, and this campaign was designed to limit that number.

Recently, Julie Walker and her team have begun working with Penn State football players Cooper Cousins and Luke Reynolds, along with men’s basketball player Kachi Nzeh, women’s basketball player Alli Campbell, women’s volleyball player Izzy Starck, wrestler Zach Ryder, and women’s soccer player Riley Cross. The group helps promote the mission of the Peyton Walker Foundation while helping raise money for defibrillator donations.

“The athletes have a great opportunity and a great reach that we don’t have through our limited followers,” Julie Walker said. “Through these partnerships, they’re sharing information about what is sudden cardiac arrest? How do you treat it? How do you recognize it? The importance of learning CPR. It’s been a really great partnership.”

By partnering with Penn State athletes, Julie Walker has worked to share the foundation’s mission with a wider audience of those in the sports community while also creating a full-circle moment for herself.

Julie Walker, who grew up a fan of Penn State football, graduated from Penn State in 1990 with a degree in recreation and parks, and as she “bleeds blue and white,” she said she “could not be more thrilled to be doing this work with Penn State athletes.”

Despite the collaboration between her and several Penn State athletes having a personal meaning, Julie Walker has remained focused on her foundation’s main goal, which came true earlier this year.

Ahead of Penn State football’s Orange Bowl matchup with Notre Dame on January 9, the Peyton Walker Foundation hosted an event in conjunction with Happy Valley United in Miami, where the non-profit donated two AEDs to local youth organizations on behalf of Cousins and Reynolds.

The Huddle For Hearts initiative hopes to donate defibrillators to youth sports programs across the country to ensure the “potentially life-saving devices” would be available if a cardiac event were to happen.

Julie Walker, who’s in the process of making leading the Peyton Walker Foundation her full-time job, said the legacy she and her team have created through the organization is one they didn’t imagine when creating the foundation, and the growth Julie Walker has seen keeps her inspired to continue sharing this message.

“Knowing we’ve saved other people’s lives is the motivation that gets us to work every day. We never feel like we’ve done enough, and that’s the problem,” Julie Walker said. “I don’t take time to sit and celebrate the victories and the wins. I’m hyper-focused on what’s next, who’s next? We’ve done great work, but there’s so much more important work to be done.”

Through the Huddle For Hearts campaign, Julie Walker hopes to continue raising awareness for sudden cardiac arrest and fostering a safe environment for athletes nationwide.

Julie Walker urges folks to check out the Huddle For Hearts website to learn more about how to perform CPR and use an AED in the event of sudden cardiac arrest. Folks can donate to the Peyton Walker Foundation here.