On a February afternoon in 2019, James Walker was midway through a gymnastics demonstration for his physical education class at Ramsden Hall Academy in Billericay when his heart suddenly stopped. The former Charlton Athletic trainee and Southend United striker, who later won a cap for Antigua and Barbuda, survived that collapse and lived another seven years. His death was confirmed in 2026, Southend United announcing the news on 1 October. He was 38.

Walker had progressed through Charlton Athletic's youth academy without making a first-team appearance for the London club, representing England at under-17 level and featuring at the 2004 European Under-17 Championship, Yahoo Sports reported. Loan spells took him to Hartlepool United, Bristol Rovers, Leyton Orient, Notts County and Yeovil Town before he joined Southend United permanently in July 2008. He scored eight goals in 54 appearances for the Shrimpers over two seasons, according to the Gazette, a tenure the club recalled when it said it was "deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former player James Walker," per Yahoo Sports.

In September 2012, while playing for Eastbourne Borough in the Conference South, Walker was called into the Antigua and Barbuda squad for a pair of World Cup qualifiers against Guatemala. He won his only cap on 11 September, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute in a 1-0 defeat. He went on to play for a string of clubs across Essex and the south-east, including Dover Athletic, Canvey Island, Maldon and Tiptree and Tilbury, with his longest spell, 58 appearances, coming at East Thurrock United during the 2015-16 season in which the club won promotion to the National League South for the first time in its history.

After retiring from the professional game, Walker became a learning-support teacher at Ramsden Hall Academy, a Billericay secondary school for pupils with special educational needs, work for which he received a Jack Petchey Foundation award, Thurrock Nub News reported. It was there, in February 2019, that he suffered the cardiac arrest that stopped blood flow to his brain. He spent 15 days in a coma and survived, but with lasting physical and cognitive impairments that required round-the-clock residential care in Southend.

Former teammates rallied around him. In May 2023, the Southend United Ex-Players Association staged a benefit match at Bowers and Pitsea's Len Salmon Stadium, with Steve Tilson, Adam Barrett and Lee Barnard among the former players turning out to help cover the cost of his care. "James was a great lad," said Tilson, who managed him at Southend. "He was a really bubbly character in the dressing room and he got on well with everyone."

Southend United held a minute's applause in his memory before its next National League fixture, against AFC Fylde. Charlton Athletic, the club where his career began, also paid tribute, extending condolences to his family.

What endures is less a highlight reel than a record of care, given and received: the eight goals he scored for Southend, the cap he won for Antigua and Barbuda far from the academy pitches of his youth, the students at Ramsden Hall he spent his second career teaching, and the former teammates who turned out seven years after his collapse to help look after him.