by Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Taylor Price had set a goal for himself, and once he puts his mind to something, he usually sees results.
Taylor, who turns 19 today, decided that he would present the award named after him in person to its recipient, Blake Overlander, at the Westhampton Country Club, where Taylor had been working as a counselor for the Junior Sports Camp. The “Taylor Price Spirit Award” is given to the camper who embodies Taylor’s qualities: compassion, generosity, kindness, and spirit. But before he could present the award, Taylor’s doctors had to give him permission.
Taylor is partially paralyzed after diving into the ocean on July 8. He was swimming with his younger cousin at the La Ronde Beach Club in Westhampton when he dove under an oncoming wave and hit his chin on the ocean floor, injuring his neck. He was rescued by the lifeguards and flown to the University Hospital at Stony Brook. Two weeks later he was flown to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia and admitted into their eight-week rehabilitation program. The Shepherd Center is a catastrophic care hospital that treats people with spinal cord injuries.
Taylor is paralyzed from the chest down. He is able to move his arms and has control of his wrists.
His mother, Marnie Price, said that Taylor was determined to make it to the awards ceremony. “He has been on a mission to get there,” she said. There was a list of things the doctor needed him to be able to do before he could make the trip, she said, and he accomplished all of them.
“I mentioned it to my doctor about a month ago,” Taylor said during a phone interview. “I’ve been working on a lot of stuff.”
For Taylor, a resident of Ridgefield, New Jersey who has spent every summer of his life in Westhampton, making it to Field Day was part of the healing process, his mother said. This was his 15th Field Day; he had attended the camp for 10 years and had been a counselor for five.
There were 350 people at the club on Saturday, Mrs. Price said, and Taylor’s arrival was a well-planned surprise. “The kids at the camp didn’t know he was coming,” said Taylor’s mother.
It was a relief for Taylor to see so many friends. One of the many things Taylor has had to get used to in his new life is having people he meets view him as handicapped—something that is difficult for a young man who views his paralysis as a temporary situation.
“The trip Saturday was so good for me,” Taylor said. “I was able to interact with people I know, who know me for me and look past the chair right away. Not one person looked at the chair first on Saturday. That reaffirmed for me that I’m still me.”
It also allowed him the opportunity to catch up with people he wouldn’t be seeing for a while. “I left my life two weeks into the summer,” he said. “I left my friends and my job. I was able to say goodbye to a lot of people.”
When he presented the award, Taylor quoted from a speech former North Carolina State basketball coach and ESPN broadcaster Jim Valvano, who died of cancer in 1993, gave in the early 1990s.
“You can never, ever, ever give up,’” quoted Taylor. “He said that though the cancer was affecting him physically, it could never touch his heart, it could never touch his mind, and it could never touch his soul. You just don’t know what tomorrow brings. And if you give up, you’ll never know.”
“That got people going a little bit,” he said, referring to the tears shed by people in the audience.
Taylor said that Blake was in his group at camp, and was one of his favorites. “I knew he was a great kid,” he said. “And he did exemplify the qualities I possess.”
Blake Overlander, 11, is from Greenwich, Connecticut. His father, Craig, said Blake was “surprised and pleased” to receive the award, and that everyone enjoyed seeing Taylor.
Field Day is an annual event at the end of camp each summer, said Mr. Overlander. “The thing that made it special was that Taylor flew up to attend,” he said. “It was really inspirational for [the kids] to see him. People were happy to see his progress and amazed at his spirit.”
Mr. Overlander said that he and his family know Taylor and his family through the Westhampton Country Club. “We think very highly of him, and we’re honored that Blake received this award,” he said.
Mr. Overlander described Taylor as “mature, outgoing, and poised.” He said he and his family are “very hopeful” Taylor will get better.
It was difficult for Taylor to return to Atlanta after seeing everyone from his old life. “I miss it so much,” he said. “I miss it more.”
Both his parents are with him in Atlanta. Mrs. Price said during a telephone interview that Taylor continues to make progress. “Things are good,” she said, adding, “I mean, he’s not walking.”
Though Mrs. Price admits the whole ordeal has been difficult, she said that Taylor continues to inspire her and her husband every day. “He doesn’t have any anger,” she said. “How can I feel pity if he doesn’t pity himself?”
“I am so proud and honored to be his mother,” said Mrs. Price.
Mrs. Price said that a nurse at Stony Brook University Hospital asked him how he was doing. He told her that he was well and that he thinks the accident happened to spare him from something worse.
The fact that Taylor views his situation as temporary helps him and his family get through a difficult time. He takes his stay at Shepherd’s facility very seriously; although some of the patients will refuse to get out of bed in the morning, Taylor is working hard every day in his physical therapy sessions.
Mrs. Price said that Taylor “gets everyone going.” He keeps the nurses and other patients laughing, and the nurses refer to him as “Mr. President.”
“I’m different than a lot of patients here,” said Taylor. “The truth is it does suck but you’ve got to stay positive.”
Taylor’s voice on the phone was strong and hopeful. “You don’t know what you’re going to get back tomorrow,” he said, referring to feeling in his body. “You don’t know what medical research is going to come out in a year, two years, or next month. You’ve got to stay positive. I’ll be 19 on Thursday and who knows, they might find a cure by my 20th birthday.”
He said that staying positive is key to staying motivated during therapy. “If you’re always down and sluggish, you’ll never be able to get through your therapy,” he said. “Deep down, I know [the paralysis] is a minor setback.”
After becoming paralyzed, many people suffer extreme depression. But Taylor was able to pull himself up from despair almost immediately after the accident. “Right after it happened I said ‘Why me?’” he said. “But you can’t really think like that. You’ll never know and you’ll never be able to find out. You really can’t. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find out one day.”
Taylor believes his accident answers why Greg Shields, who suffered similar injuries after diving into the ocean four years ago, had his. Mr. Shields, who was told he would probably never walk again, is now an ocean lifeguard in Hampton Bays. “The head lifeguard said that because he knew about Greg’s accident, he knew to send people in after me right away when he saw me,” he said. Greg’s accident—though horrible—saved his life, he said.
Taylor’s strong faith has helped him get through the past few weeks. “I believe that God has a plan for us,” he said. “We’re chosen for a reason. God only gives you what you can handle.”
After he leaves the Shepherd Center on September 23, Taylor will enter a program affiliated with the center, where he will live in an apartment with his family and learn how to “get around.”
Mr. Price has deferred entering Georgetown University, where he would have been a freshman this fall, for a year. While he intended to study business, he admits that since the accident, he has no idea what he may study next fall. He joked that he could become a doctor tomorrow with everything he knows about spinal cord injuries.
Now that he made it to Field Day, Taylor would like to set new benchmarks. But he is finding that difficult to do, since with the type of injury he’s suffered, he can work at physical therapy for months and not see any progress.
“One of the toughest things for me is that I like to work very hard and see an immediate result,” he said. “In school, I could say I’ll study for the next hour and hope it will raise my grades X amount of points. But with this, I can work an extra four hours for four weeks, and not see anything. It’s a big waiting game.”
Of course, his main goal is obvious: he wants to walk again. “The main goal is for me to one day get out of this chair and walk again,” he said. He explained that if you were to look at one hundred people with neck injuries, you would have a hundred different outcomes.
He said the doctors couldn’t tell him if he’ll walk again. “They can’t tell me, because they just don’t know,” he said. “I’ve got to keep working and working—hard.”
A few of Taylor’s friends have contacted several celebrities and asked them to stop by or send an autographed picture wishing him well. Alec Baldwin visited him while he was at Stony Brook University Hospital in July. But what he’d really like is a visit from singer Jessica Simpson.
“If Jessica Simpson walks in, I’ll get up and walk,” he said with conviction.
With his birthday on August 26, he’s hoping she’ll make a stop in Atlanta.
“I know there’s a surprise for me on my birthday,” he said. “I hope it’s a visit from Jessica.”
There is a surprise—a surprise party—at the webcam in Westhampton Beach in front of First Hampton Realty on the corner of Sunset Avenue and Main Street. Friends and family will gather for a birthday celebration today, Thursday, and have been asked to wear yellow as a show of support for Taylor.
Patricia Donlan, a friend of the family, has been working to organize the event. She said people will be asked to wear yellow because of a yellow wristband Taylor’s uncle, Sandy Goodman, had shipped to Westhampton that says, “LivesTrong.” The wristbands were ordered from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which helps cancer survivors. Everyone colored in the “T” on the band in a show of support for Taylor. The camera will go on at 6:30 p.m., and Ms. Donlin asks that people get there between 6 and 6:15 p.m.
