John Taylor: No mountain's too high now
On a sunny day in July, John Taylor hiked along the Continental Divide.
He reached 12,005 feet, where the air is too thin for trees to grow.
He looked at the mountainside, dotted with specs of color from hardy wildflowers. He took a deep breath, placed his open palms on his chest and with two wet cheeks, thanked Joe Templeton.
John Taylor breathing easily and giving thanks at 12,000 feet.
Taylor breathes through the lungs of Templeton, who died at just 22.
Since his transplant, Taylor has seldom stopped.
On July 19, 2009, he took part in the Donor Dash, a 5K race. The next day, he hiked the Alpine Ridge Trail in the Rocky Mountains. He works out at a gym at least four times a week and is currently training for the swim leg of a triathlon relay.
“I want to maximize this gift. I have this second chance at life. To not live every minute of it would be a disservice to Joe,” said Taylor, 51, of Phoenix, AZ.
Taylor played football and basketball, swam and ran track as a young man. At 40 he started getting short of breath. “I attributed to it all kinds of things, like my age,” Taylor said. “I thought it was because I was watching more games than I played.”
In 1998, he was diagnosed with Alpha-1. He began augmentation therapy and did fairly well until he had a sharp decline in lung function in 2005. He was placed on a transplant list, but there was a major challenge: Taylor is 6 feet 7 inches tall. Everyone knew it would be difficult to match the size of his lungs.
Over the next three years, he got three calls about possible matching lungs, but all were false alarms. Finally he got the decisive call Jan. 2, 2008, from the University of Colorado Medical Center in Denver. He received his two new lungs the same day.
He was very weak at first. “But every day I was able to do a little bit more.”
He began to count the number of steps he could take in his apartment. He started counting at 50, which soon became 100. Then he hit the treadmill.
“I walked for eight minutes and I broke down crying. To walk without oxygen, without worrying what was going to happen, was probably the most emotional experience in my life.”
Taylor says he “just took off” from that day on. He began walking the dog and getting the mail. In weeks, he went from walking one mile to three.
He got married in December of 2008 to Kathy Taylor, 33, whom he met on the internet. During his battle with Alpha-1 lung disease, he never told Kathy he was ill. She never realized he used an oxygen tank when they spoke on the phone.
“He kind of disappeared for a while and then came back after the transplant and told me,” she recalled. “I would have wanted to be with him since day one, but it kind of gave us a clean start. I think I can appreciate what he’s gone through. I understand.”
She did offer her support for another important step: the day he met his donor’s family.
Joe Templeton was a 6-foot 4-inch record-setting high school football player who had been invited to try out for the Arena Football League’s Colorado Crush. He suffered from episodic seizures. Feeling that something was terribly wrong, he told his mother he wanted to be an organ donor. On New Year’s Eve, 2007, he had a fatal seizure.
Taylor was nervous about meeting Templeton’s family. “They were so beautiful, gracious and generous,” he said. “They shared their memories, mementos, pictures.”
Joe Templeton’s mother gave Taylor several of Joe’s favorite Quiksilver T-shirts. Like a superhero’s cape, Taylor says he feels empowered when he puts one on.
It was Templeton’s family that invited Taylor to take part in the Donor Dash. The event celebrates the lives of organ and tissue recipients and recognizes those who continue to wait for a lifesaving transplant. Taylor completed the race, which had 2,900 participants this year.
“He was so exited,” said Kathy Taylor. “I know that he wanted to see Joe’s family again. He thought there’s no way he could ever repay them, but he wanted to prove himself for Joe that he was healthy and thriving, because without Joe he wouldn’t even be able to walk.”
Taylor also met the recipient of Templeton’s heart at the same event. “Neither of us knew what to say. We shook hands, looked at each other and just shook our heads.”
The next day the Taylors and their friends Dave and Barbara Pusey decided to tour Estes Park, surrounded by the Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Forest.
“Dave Pusey said I was like a dog, I was so excited to be able to walk it,” said Taylor afterward. “I almost ran up the trail, and then I’d have to stop and look back and wait for them.”
Barbara Pusey’s comment: “Like Rocky Balboa climbing the stairs, it was a hallmark of his successful journey.”
Taylor worked in morning radio for 12 years. Today his job is recruiting businesses and medical practices to incorporate wellness programs into their health care.
Besides keeping fit, he intends to travel and move into a home with beautiful surrounding scenery. And he has one more plan:
“I want to share my story with Alphas and transplant patients. I want to show them that there can be a great future ahead, and that every day is a new gift, a new opportunity.”
