Taylor Price poised for homecoming, and hard work
by Gina Vergel
Staff Writer

Before July, if William Price saw a person in a wheelchair, he’d feel sympathy because after all, that person was paralyzed and could never walk again. But after his little boy was involved in an accident on July 8 that left damage to his spinal cord, Price knows being that paralyzed isn’t really the hard part. “It’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

When actor Christopher Reeves died on Oct. 10, Price explained, everyone at Atlanta’s Shepherd Center, a catastrophic care hospital that Taylor, 19, has been staying at since mid-July, was impacted. “He brought so much focus and attention to the spinal cord injury (SPI) community,” he said, adding that the actor had written a very personal and touching letter for Taylor.

“Knowing what I know now, I bet if you asked a man or woman [with a spinal cord injury] to keep the paralysis if you took away everything else, they’d do it in a minute,” Price said. Along with paralysis, he added, spinal cord injury patients must deal with many other health issues. Price, Taylor and the rest of the family want to bring that fact to the forefront, just as Reeves did.

When Reeves was paralyzed in an equestrian accident in 1995, many thought that the man famous for playing “Superman” lost an acting career. Instead, Reeves put a human face on spinal cord injury, using his fame for what he thought was most important – educating the public while lobbying neuroscientists around the world to conquer what he thought was one of the most complex diseases of the brain and central nervous system — SPI.

The complex disease is explained in a tutorial on the Christopher Reeves Paralysis Foundation’s web site. The spinal cord, the site says, is the highway for communication between the body and the brain. When the spinal cord is injured, the exchange of information between the brain and other parts of the body is disrupted.

Talking to Price, you would think that you are talking to a specialist. Most spinal cord injury patients have to be catheterized in order to urinate, Price said. “They must be turned in the middle of the night a couple of times. They have skincare issues, high blood pressure, temperature issues as well as urinary tract infection issues,” he added.

Price said that the brunt of the injury is not the broken neck or the broken vertebrae. “It’s the broken vertebrae that does damage to the spinal cord.

Taylor had a C5 break,” he explained. “The spinal cord has a consistency of a hot dog and if you puncture a hot dog with a fork, its not going to come out the same way as if you put a regular hot dog on the grill.”

The Price’s have been told that the spinal cord injury community is a small one. “They told us [at the Shepherd Center] that when we get back to New Jersey, we will know 99.9 percent more about SPI than a regular primary care physician,” said Price, who along with wife Marnie, have lived and learned with Taylor in Atlanta.

“We have to be very careful about respiratory infections because Taylor actually has no [control over his] abdominal [muscles] — he can’t cough on his own,” said Price, referring to just some of the things they must look out for. “Taylor’s got to do a weight shift every half-hour. I don’t think many people realize all that is involved. It’s very frustrating.”

Price, Taylor and the rest of the family hold steady hope that there will someday be a cure. “There is a lot going on in science and hopefully some day,” said Price, adding that he supports stem cell research. “It makes no sense to have so many aborted fetuses just thrown out.”

Reeves testified before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies in favor of federally funded stem cell research. Fellow actor and Parkinson’s Disease and stem cell research activist Michael J. Fox, who has posted an inspirational message on Taylor’s web site (www.taylorprice.org), also lobbies for change.

Coming home

Taylor returns to Ridgewood today and will probably be surprised by what he will see when he passes Citizen’s Park on Godwin Avenue. Along with family friends like Patricia Donlan, a crowd will be there to greet Taylor.

“Everyone will be wearing yellow slickers and carrying flashlights,” said Donlan, adding that a big poster decorated by students of George Washington Middle School would be on display.

Although he has spent the last month in transitional housing, where he has participated in the Shepherd’s Center Day Program, Taylor’s next hurdle is to get used to navigating his life at home. For that, the Price home has been modified to meet his needs. “We built a stair chair lift,” said his mother, Marnie. “He has a whole new bathroom. It’s the nicest bathroom in all of New Jersey!”

Resident and family friend, Pam McBride, was the initial architect that surveyed the house for changes. “She was huge,” Marnie added. Bill Braunius and Dave Ulrich’s company did the labor, which as many families of spinal cord injury patients learn, is not cheap. As Price told The Ridgewood News, custodial care when Taylor returns home is not covered by insurance.

“Our lives have changed but we are going to make the best of it,” said Marnie. “Again I have to say that we are just so grateful for what our friends have done through this tragedy. Obviously this is devastating for us but for them as well – he is like their boy.”

The well-liked Taylor served as the varsity hockey team manager while he attended the Delbarton School in Morristown, which he graduated last June.

Upon returning to New Jersey, he says he hopes to work with this year’s team.

For next fall, however, Taylor plans to attend Georgetown University, a plan that was put on hold after his accident. And down the pike, driving is a possibility that he would like to pursue. “So many people [in Atlanta’s Shepherd Center and the community] do [drive],” he said. “But I want to see what I get back. That might not be in one year, it might be in two or three.

But when I come back to get my one-year evaluation, I might try to look into that option.”

Reading the well wishes posted on the guest book on his web site, it is easy to see that Taylor has impacted the lives of the staff and other patients at the Shepherd Center. Taylor admits he’ll miss Atlanta, but he is anxious to get home. Just last week, however, he got a souvenir that he will never forget– the opportunity to meet one of his idols, professional golfer Davis Love III.

Taylor was personally invited by Love to attend a practice round on Nov. 5 for the Coca-Cola TOUR Championship, held at the East Lake Golf Club. Taylor spent time with Love as he teed off to warm up, but since the pro had to leave to film a commercial for Titliest, other “friends” entertained Taylor.

“Tiger [Woods] spent like seven or eight minutes with me,” Taylor said. “He couldn’t have been nicer. Another guy that was awesome was Retief Goosen, who ended up winning the tournament.”

The busy Taylor has his homecoming today, but then it’s back to work, as he will continue to persevere with his therapy. That doesn’t mean that he won’t continue to meet celebrities, however. The Prices have been invited to a Christopher Reeve Foundation Ball at the Marriott Marquis in New York later this month.

And who knows? Someday soon you may see Taylor on MTV … maybe. Always putting a happy spin on things he joked that he was writing to the network to see if he could get his wheelchair to be customized on “Pimp My Ride,” a show where old cars get shiny makeovers. With Taylor Price’s determination and charm, anything could happen.

Gina Vergel’s e-mail address is vergel@northjersey.com