At first, Del Taylor refused to look at the stumps of his legs after his feet were amputated during an emergency surgery.
He knew he had made the right decision聽鈥 the doctor said his only options were amputate or die聽鈥 but he still turned his head away when nurses changed his bandages.
Recently retired, Taylor, then 60, had been looking forward to spending more time in the woods and in his workshop where he builds birchbark canoes and makes baskets and other Indigenous handcrafts.
With both legs amputated eight inches below his knees, Taylor couldn鈥檛 imagine how he would get out of the hospital bed, let alone return to his old life in Midland, a Georgian Bay town two hours north of Toronto. It took him three weeks to work up the nerve to look at his stumps, still swollen and sore from the surgery.
鈥淭hat was a big step,鈥 Taylor said. 鈥淛ust accepting the fact that: This is what I鈥檓 dealt, these are the cards that I鈥檝e got now, so how am I going to play this hand?鈥
Once he looked at his legs, Taylor said he began to push through the pain and uncertainty and set himself the goal of walking聽鈥 not wheeling聽鈥 out of the hospital.
鈥淪ince then, I鈥檝e never given up hope,鈥澛爃e said. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 paying off because now I鈥檓 walking again.鈥
Taylor lost his limbs due to a life-threatening infection that started in his feet.
Last April, during a trip to Jamaica to mark his 60th birthday, Taylor stepped on a sharp piece of coral while swimming in the ocean. Those tiny cuts, which seemed minor, got infected and by the time Taylor went to his local hospital a few weeks later, his feet were in bad shape.
Taylor has type 2 diabetes, a condition that puts people at higher risk of lower limb amputations. Over time, diabetes can damage nerves, leading to a loss of sensation, especially in feet. The disease can also narrow blood vessels, and the reduced blood flow can hinder the body’s ability to heal or fight infection.聽聽
Before he went to the emergency department, Taylor said he had some pain in his feet but was still able to wear boots, walk and drive his car. He didn鈥檛 realize how bad the infection was until local doctors sent him to an orthopedic surgeon in Barrie, who prescribed one week of IV antibiotics.
Dr. Steven Dilkas and certified prosthetist Lauren Pedersen talk to Del Taylor at West Park Healthcare Centre about his new prosthetic legs.
UHNBut the drugs couldn鈥檛 slow the infection. Taylor had sepsis, a medical emergency that can lead to tissue damage, organ failure and death. The orthopedic surgeon had to give Taylor the life-or-limb option.
鈥淎s she went out the door, I put my face in my hands and had a quick 10-second cry,鈥 Taylor recalled. 鈥淭hen I looked at my wife and my mother-in-law and said, 鈥業 am not going to die. We’re going to cut these things off and they’re going to save my life.鈥欌
Taylor had his legs amputated on May 17. His wife, Karin, said his recovery from surgery and the lingering infection took longer than she expected.
鈥淗is body didn鈥檛 bounce back immediately,鈥 she said. 鈥淗e was still quite sick from the sepsis, and I remember thinking: 鈥榃e鈥檙e not over the bad part yet.鈥欌
Del Taylor is proud of his progress, but said he knows his recovery is far from over.
Tannis Toohey for the 海角社区官网StarBy the beginning of June, Taylor was feeling better, his stumps had begun to heal, and he was eager to start rehab. He said he felt lucky when a spot opened at West Park Healthcare Centre, a specialized rehabilitative and complex care hospital in 海角社区官网with the largest inpatient amputee program in Canada.
Dr. Steven Dilkas, a physiatrist, or specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation, said that while Taylor鈥檚 medical journey is not uncommon,聽he stood out as a patient.
鈥淔rom day one, he had the right frame of mind,鈥 said Dilkas, medical lead for West Park’s amputee program. 鈥淗e was willing to work hard and he was determined to not let this life-changing event define him. That was the difference maker for Del.鈥
At West Park, between 70 and 80 per cent of the patients in its amputee program have underlying diabetes. Other patients have lost their limbs due to a traumatic injury, such as a car crash, or as part of their cancer treatment. Dilkas said the program is patient-centred, meaning its teams help people achieve individual goals.聽
鈥淲e want to know what people were doing before and we want to get them back to doing those things that they enjoy.鈥
In his first weeks at West Park, Taylor went to the gym twice a day to build up muscles in his core. His illness had cost him about 40 pounds and much of his strength.
Though he initially needed a wheelchair, Taylor told his team he would be going home with prosthetic legs. He wanted to climb the stairs to his bedroom, help Karin cook in their kitchen and get back into the woods and his workshop.
That Taylor had clear goals聽鈥 and had already started making plans to achieve them聽鈥 was unusual, said Lauren Pedersen, a certified prosthetist at West Park.
鈥淎 lot of people I see, by the time they get to me, they’re either not ready to have those conversations, or they’re just so overwhelmed that they don’t know where to start,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut that was not the case with Del. He was very direct about what his passions are.鈥
Taylor is Indigenous, raised on Curve Lake First Nation, northeast of Peterborough. He worked at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, a national historic site, for more than 40 years, and said that preserving culturally significant Indigenous handcrafts, especially birchbark basketry, is deeply important to him.
Knowing Taylor wanted to get back to the woods, Pedersen said she built him waterproof prosthetic legs.
鈥淓ven if he wasn’t going to walk in water, there’s a good chance they’d be full of mud and would need to be hosed off.鈥
On the day that Taylor first tried out his prosthetic legs, Pedersen wanted to make sure he was close to his height of five feet 11 inches. She got Taylor safely standing and asked Karin to give him a hug聽鈥 something they hadn鈥檛 been able to do in weeks.
鈥淚 said: 鈥榊ou have to tell me with your hug, how far off are we from his height. As soon as you put your arms around him, you will know if I need to make him taller.鈥 It turns out, we were a little bit short.鈥
Karin said she was moved to tears when Taylor took his first steps 鈥 just six weeks after his feet were amputated.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 believe that somebody who was so sick to the point where I thought I might lose my husband could be up and walking again.鈥
Taylor spent a few weeks practising with his prosthetic legs at West Park before going home at the end of July, where he continues to work on his new walking technique.
Taylor cannot feel the ground underfoot; he depends on his eyes and hours of practice to determine how much clearance he needs to swing his prosthetic legs up and over the edge of a rug, a door threshold or a root in the woods.
Though proud of his progress, Taylor said he knows his recovery is far from over. He will return to West Park in the coming months to be fitted for additional prosthetic limbs. Getting through winter and the season’s ice, slush and snow will be yet another challenge.聽
By spring, Taylor wants to be running. He and Karin plan on tackling a 5K race to raise funds for diabetes. He鈥檚 run it a few times before, but now the finish line will be even harder to reach.
Taylor has no doubts. 鈥淚鈥檓 going to do it.鈥
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