Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Taylor McKay, the Sweet Home boy who suffered devastating injuries more than a year ago in a lawnmower accident, returned to school Monday, Oct. 10.
Taylor, 8, limped into teacher Nancy Keesecker’s third-grade classroom at Hawthorne School and plopped himself down at his desk, ready to get going.
“Taylor is very excited about going back to school ? very excited,” said his mother, Deanna McKay.
Though appearing a bit shy, Taylor said he was eager to get back as he walked with his older brother Colton from the street ? the school’s parking lot was being torn up for new blacktop Monday.
Since being run over by a riding lawnmower in July 18, 2004, Taylor has undergone 14 surgeries in 14 months to repair his left backside, which was shredded of soft tissue, and a sciatic nerve that was severely damaged.
The accident happened when Taylor, then 7, was riding in a wagon behind the lawnmower, piloted by Colton. As Colton was attempting to steer the lawnmower up an incline, Taylor fell out of the wagon and the lawnmower, unable to pull the wagon up the incline, rolled back over him.
Taylor spent eight weeks at Doernbechers Children’s Hospital in Portland and four more undergoing therapy at Emanuel Legacy Hospital before getting a limousine ride home from Portland in early October, almost exactly one year ago. His family includes Taylor’s father Craig, a maintenance carpenter for the Albany School District, Deanna, who is a full-time dispatcher with the Linn County Sheriffís Department (see accompanying story), and Colton, 9.
During the past year Taylor has been three times to St. Louis Children’s Hospital in Missouri, where he has undergone two surgeries, one a major nerve surgery, specifically designed for him, that hopefully will give him the ability to put his foot down. He will never be able to move it upwards, his mother said.
In the second surgery, muscle was taken from his back to cover his left buttock, which was lost in the lawnmower accident.
“It’ll give him some protection ? his sciatic nerve was severed, which is so very painful,” Deanna said.
“He’s doing pretty good, for the most part,” she said.
Taylor could possibly need more surgery in the future if he develops a hernia, which would be easy to do in his condition, Deanna said. He also will need more reconstructive surgery when he gets older.
During the last year he studied at home with a tutor, but his mother said he is behind other children in his class and a decision will be made whether he should stay in the third grade or move back to second, which he missed last year.
At Hawthorne, Taylor will have to abide by one particular rule: no contact sports. He’ll also have to skip the regular recess in the beginning, while he heals from his latest surgery. He’ll also have to sit on a pillow, since he has no left buttock, and may need to use a wheelchair, which the school will provide, if his class does anything that requires a lot of walking, his mother said.
“The school has been so good to us,” Deanna said. “Theyíve done as much as they could possibly do to make it easy for him to come back.”