‘An inspiration to us all’
Delbarton grad speaks of battle with paralysis
by Rob Seman, Daily Record
MORRIS TWP. — As a student manager of the Delbarton School hockey team, Taylor Price had a reputation for taking responsibility and motivating his classmates to win. The team’s current captain, Ned Crotty, 18, a senior from Harding, remembered how Price took charge in one particular game when the team was losing.
“He came out and started screaming, and we just started playing better,” Crotty said.
“The great thing about Taylor is, he’s so mature, it’s like having another adult around,” said hockey coach Bruce Shatel. “When he speaks, people listen.”
On Friday, the student body of Delbarton was listening again, but this time Price wasn’t screaming from the sidelines.
He sat in a wheelchair in the center of the school’s gymnasium with a message for his “brothers” given far more meaning by his struggle to overcome a debilitating spinal injury with the same determination he was remembered for at the school.
“You can’t get better if you don’t go on,” Price told them.
Price returned to his alma mater Friday, less than a month after he returned home to Ridgewood from a special hospital in Atlanta, where he was being treated for the injury that has left him with limited sensory and motor ability.
Price was injured on July 8 when he dove into the ocean at Westhampton Beach in Long Island and his chin struck the ocean floor, damaging vertebrae in his neck.
He was rescued by a lifeguard and flown by helicopter to Stonybrook University Medical Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
He remained in the hospital’s intensive care unit until July 19, when he was flown on a medical jet to the Shepherd Center, a catastrophic-care hospital that treats patients with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and similar problems.
He returned from the Shepherd Center on Nov. 12. Since his injury, he has garnered support and attention from friends in New Jersey as well as others with spinal cord injuries, most notably the late Christopher Reeve.
In August, Reeve wrote Price a letter, thanking the teenager for putting a link on his Web site to the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, and offering Price sympathy and encouragement. The letter appears on Price’s Web site, www.taylorprice.com.
At the assembly at Delbarton, students at the all-boys high school wore yellow T-shirts that bore messages welcoming Price back to the school from which he graduated in June.
The word “Livestrong,” the name of the educational program created by the Lance Armstrong Foundation, appeared on the backs of the shirts, with the “T” boldfaced for “Taylor.”
The students raised $2,500 to help pay for Price’s medical costs.
“Taylor, to say you have been an inspiration is an understatement to all of us,” said the Rev. Luke Travers, headmaster of the school.
Touched by his classmates’ support, Price opted to show them some appreciation as well.
“I thought it would be really cool if on Monday they had a headmaster’s holiday,” Price said. Travers obliged.
Price said the paralysis is only part of the challenge. The hardest thing to overcome, he said, has been the change in lifestyle for him and his family.
He must be fed breakfast and bathed. His parents must check his skin for bedsores. On Friday, Price began a rigorous physical therapy program at the Kessler Institute that he will have to report for three times a week.
Price said he has also begun noticing less obvious challenges now that he has returned home — things like the fact that Ridgewood is built on a hill, and that not all stores are handicapped accessible. He has had to have a “stair-chair” device installed in his home to allow him to go up and down the stairs.
His parents say the reality of the situation has faced them, as well, in the form of money. While their insurance has covered the hospital treatment, they are forced to pay out-of-pocket for home care. They have recently established a trust fund to help pay for that ongoing cost.
For Price’s mother, Marnie, it is a bitter irony. A year ago, she was pleased and proud that her son got an early acceptance letter from Georgetown University.
“But I was not ready to let him go,” she said. “But I didn’t think of it like this to keep him home.”
Price said at the time he hoped to be studying at Georgetown by now with many of his friends from Delbarton. Instead, he’ll be attending next fall. What was almost guaranteed this time last year has now become a short-term goal for him.
“In my current situation, I have to be more independent,” Price said. “I’m 19, I’m supposed to be in college.”
His long-term goal will be a bit more difficult, and one he shared with Reeve — walking.
“I’m going to beat this thing,” Price said.
His friends share his optimism. Sophomore Jack McBride, 16, of Madison, has known Price for several years and also goes to Westhampton for the summer.
“It was depressing, now it’s awesome to see him doing so well,” McBride said.
“If he keeps going the way he’s going, he can make a full recovery, I think,” McBride said.
Like Reeve, Price and his parents are putting their hopes in science, such as stem-cell research. His father, Willie, said he knows that the road to recovery may take some time, however.
“This isn’t a magic bullet, that he’s going to be back up and play tennis,” Willie Price said. “It will be a combination of many things going on in science right now.”
Price said he doesn’t know where his positive outlook comes from. It’s something he said he should explore, but it’s also what has kept him going.
“I just don’t see how you can be any other way,” he said. “If you’re going to be depressed, and you’re down, how can you get better?”
