Taylor Smith Taylor M Smith

Good morning, 2600, it has been about 2600 minutes since our world was forever changed when we learned of our beloved sons horrible injury. I am still at my post with my wife while we hold on tight to whatever we have left and whatever God intends for us. There are a few things that are very clear at this hour and I wanted to shoot out an update as we ponder the circumstances we are facing with our boy. First and foremost we want to give our most sincere thanks to the thousands of outpouring prayers and messages we are continuously receiving across the country during this difficult time.. I am confident that without your thoughts and prayers neither of us would have the strength to go on. Taylor continues to defy the odds, the neurosurgeon told us before his surgery that he would most likely not survive it but without surgery had zero chance of survival. Taylor survived; then the doctors told us it was not likely he would survive the first 24 hours, he did; do you believe in the power of prayer yet? Taylor has shown signs of what we believe are cognitive thought not mere reflex which gives us hope he is still in there. Three things, Faith, Hope, and love, and the greatest is....


It is through Faith that we lean on what Gods plan is, He knows I don't like His plan, He knows in childish anger I question His plan; but He continues to use the multitudes of our brothers and sisters throughout this country to send us Hope at just the right times. And by far the greatest of these is Love, love lifts us up and continues to fuel our faith and our hope.

I do not have a lot to update all of you with other than the warrior blood coursing through my boys veins continues to keep him in the fight. The doctors say he can not understand us but in a recent episode where he was fighting these machines and trying to get up, the nurse asked me to help hold him down, I told him to stop, and he did. Maybe it was coincidence like she said but maybe it was a glimmer of hope that my son is still in there.

Regardless of the outcome there is a long road ahead of our entire family; we continue to be blessed and encouraged by the outpour of support and love from all of you. I have tried to respond to each of you as you have sent messages but if I have not please know we are running off your strength and sentiment. From the onset of this tragedy there have been those special heroes who have at times physically held us up as we face this unbearable situation.

I am so proud of my amazing wife LouAnn who has shown amazing strength and courage, my brave and determined Addie who we have had to pry away from her brothers side to eat or just unwind. We have had a constant flow of beautiful friends and family who have entered our lives or the airwaves at just the right times to lift us up in prayer and positive thoughts. THANK YOU, we love you all very much.

Lastly I wanted to point out the amazing staff at Saint Francis Hospital and especially the amazing police department here. From the second we arrived they have escorted us guarded us, and got the multitudes of family and friends to us in this large facility; they have treated us and our visitors like we are the only patients in this hospital. They have made sure that we have had what we needed and even went in together to get us a gift card for the store downstairs in case we needed anything. Today the head of the security team walked up and gave us paperwork to help my mom and dad get a hotel room across the street. These men have treated us like royalty and are a credit to the badge.

I'm going to try and grab a couple winks now but while I'm sitting here I wanted to get some of my thoughts on paper. Tomorrow we have a team of family that is going to start a daily blog to help us share this journey with those of you who want updated and some other ideas to help organize the army of prayer warriors in our fight. God knows our wishes and prayers before we say them and as hard is it for me to say, I trust in His plan, I just don't like it and He knows that. I pray for forgiveness for my disobedience and hope if there is penance for my lack of faith that He take it out on me and not my baby.. Goodnight, and may God Bless each and every one of you... Jas