Sam Taylor feared his career was over after infection left him paralysed in hips and lower back
When Sam Taylor woke up unable to move – paralysed in his hips and lower back – the GWS Giants star feared the worst. But that was only the start of a horrific ordeal. WARNING: Graphic content.
GWS
Don't miss out on the headlines from GWS. Followed categories will be added to My News.
When teammates have left you for dead in your sick bed and there’s nothing you can do, there’s only one place to turn – the show about nothing.
Doctors were at a complete loss as to what had stopped GWS defender Sam Taylor from being able to move, and at one point warned him he could have an auto-immune disease which might cause his body to attack itself for the rest of his life.
Much to Taylor’s relief, he was eventually diagnosed with an infection and he is on the road to recovery and will travel with the Giants to their Queensland and West Australian hubs.
But the worst of it came when doctors had to insert what’s called a PICC line to administer antibiotics. In other words a 40cm tube inserted through his entire body – which he could feel “sliding” all the way through.
“I just felt so violated,” said Taylor.
Just days after playing Collingwood in Round 4 on June 26, the sudden infection stopped Taylor from even being able to walk and caused him to lose 10kg.
It was a solitary battle made all the more lonely due to COVID-19 restrictions which have stopped his family from visiting from Perth and in the first instance stopped Giants teammate and housemate Jackson Hately from even being allowed to check on his welfare as he lay stranded in his bed, unable to move, not only to use the bathroom.
But then there’s always Jerry Seinfeld.
“I’ve never seen Seinfeld before,” concedes the 21-year-old.
“The first few seasons George was annoying me.”
Kayo is your ticket to the 2020 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. Watch every match of every round Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
But the mild frustration at George Costanza struggling with life at the New York Yankees was nothing to fears last year’s preliminary final hero might have played his last game for the Giants.
“I had a specialist meeting on the Thursday and they said this could be like an auto-immune disease. So my body attacking itself. Which could last my whole life,” Taylor said.
“And I was in quite a bit of shock. I would have to have taken pills every day of my life if I had that. But then I had a blood test and it was something else.
“I just wanted to be able to walk again.”
Out of the blue one night, Taylor woke up unable to move – paralysed in his hips and lower back.
The frightening scenario was exacerbated by the paranoia of COVID-19.
“At the time, (housemate Hately) thought I had COVID. So he was like, ‘I’m staying away from you.’ Even the doc was like, ‘make sure you stay away from Jackson, isolate in your room’,” he said.
“I was like, ‘fair enough’. I was struggling to move, nobody could help me. It took me about 20 minutes to get to my car, even with crutches. Jacko couldn’t really get me food, and I was like, ‘nah, I’m not going upstairs to get food’.”
But Taylor soon found out the worst bit was still to come. If you’re squeamish, maybe don’t read on.
Taylor has to take a deep breath before retelling this part of his torturous journey.
“So I have these antibiotics that drop through to my PICC line. A nurse comes and sees me each day at 3pm to change this bottle,” he said.
“Getting this done was one of the worst things that happened. They numbed it. I was still awake. They had all the paper and cloths over my arm – and I felt the needle go in then this tube had to go through. The tube was about 40cm. Going through my whole body. I felt it just going through.
“I felt it sliding down my body. And it was just disgusting. He had to push it through as well with his hand, he started massaging it to get through. I felt on the fingers – his blood. Some gooey stuff. I thought it was my blood. It was blood. Him just kept pushing it down and down my body. And I just felt so violated.”
MORE NEWS:
Alastair Clarkson avoids fine for umpire comments, but not wrath of Tom Papley
Four AFL clubs hit with fines totalling $185,000 for COVID breaches
Originally published as Sam Taylor feared his career was over after infection left him paralysed in hips and lower back