Taylor Rand

As a father, who all know is completely smitten by his daughters, it's difficult for me to communicate what's going on in my head and heart.  I just want Taylor and our family to wake up from this horrible nightmare and get back to normal.  

Unfortunately, it's not the reality.

So now it's time to do whatever we need to help Taylor get back to her smart, passionate, feisty, beautiful self.  The kind words, cards, emails, and of course prayers, are definitely helping Taylor. Her spirits are up, and she's handling all of this like a champ.
Many have asked about what happened and what is going to happen.  

Here's short explanation.
Taylor contracted some sort of virus over the past 6 to 8 weeks.  They believe it was parvo, but that's not certain, and we may never know.  What we do know - because Taylor is an active 14 yr-old teenager, her body didn't show signs of the virus.  The virus attacked her heart and "scarred" her right and left ventricles.  The scarring is so severe that that her heart cannot recover.  

So, now we take the next steps.  The destination - Taylor gets a new heart very soon and goes on to have a "new normal," long, healthy life.  Taylor has already decided that we will be using her terminology:
HT (heart transplant)
T (transplant)

The first step in this HT process will happen tomorrow.  At 7am, Taylor will be going in for a heart pump.) This small device will go into her chest and attach to a computer that she wears on her hip. The pump will help Taylor's body continue to heal and be ready for the HT.  She'll be in recovery all day tomorrow.  Then, depending how she feels, could do some light walking Saturday or Sunday.  This will help liver and kidneys are make the very good progress and ensure that Taylor is as strong as possible when she gets the HT.  

We'll be using CaringBridge as our central area of communication.

We cannot thank everyone enough for the outpouring of support, love, and prayers.    
Love,
Kim, Darren, Emerson