THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605300175
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 74 lines
Brian Taylor turned 5 last month.
``I think he's going to be a normal 5-or 6-year-old,'' said his grandmother, Della Cherry, of the 5500 block of Parliament Drive. ``Things are looking good for him.''
Cherry and her daughter, Debra Taylor, Brian's mother, are grateful to be able to say that. They're grateful they were able to celebrate his fifth birthday.
Back in February, things didn't look nearly so good.
Feb. 7, a Wednesday, is a date Cherry says she'll never forget. For it was then that Brian, an active pre-schooler, slipped away and fell through the ice covering a canal behind their former home on Breezy Road.
Cherry estimates he was in the water about five minutes. When she found him, he was floating face down. She remembers pulling at his neck to lift his head clear of the icy water, before administering CPR.
``He was taken to Virginia Beach General,'' recalled Cherry, ``and stayed there a couple of hours while they stabilized him. They made the decision to send him to the Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters because he needed more than they could do.''
There, he was seen by Drs. Jean Shelton, Donald W. Lewis and Steve Kayota, and according to Cherry, he became yet another of their success stories. He stayed there for three weeks.
``It was wonderful,'' Cherry said of Brian's stay at the hospital. ``Everybody rallied round us. The doctors are wonderful. The hospital is very well equipped. They had the nurses. Unless you've been through it, you don't know what they can do.''
Miracles like Brian's cost money, and only a small portion is covered by the fees paid by patients' families and insurance. To ensure that the best in state-of-the-art medical technology will be there for others when needed, Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters is one of 161 hospitals nationwide participating in the 14th Children's Miracle Network Telethon this weekend.
WVEC-TV 13 will carry the telethon locally, broadcasting live from the hospital lobby from 11 p.m. Saturday until 8 p.m. Sunday.
The broadcast is being called ``CMN Champions'' and will feature a number of local children who have beaten overwhelming medical odds, with the hospital's help, including Brian. He is scheduled to be before the cameras from 5:15 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Viewers will be able to see for themselves what a recovery this healthy, happy little boy has made.
Other local ``miracle kids'' include Kathleen Morgan, Emanuela Johnson, Jamontay Gatlin and Edwin Ward.
Sherri Brennen, Joe Flanagan, Barbara Ciara, Terry Zahn, Regina Mobley and others from WVEC are scheduled to host local segments of the telethon.
National celebrities scheduled to appear include Marie Osmond, Steve Young, Bo Jackson, Mary Lou Retton, John Schneider, Mary Hart, Merlin Olsen, National League MVP Jeff Bagwell, Wayne Gretsky and others.
Past telethons have raised more than $917 million nationwide. Last year, more than $1 million was raised locally for CHKD.
``I would say support it,'' said Cherry, ``because the people are just wonderful.''
Added Debra Taylor, ``I would encourage people to support it. I've told everybody at work.''
For information about the telethon, call 668-9000. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by DAWSON MILLS
Brian Taylor is still an active 5-year-old, thanks to the efforts of
his grandmother, Della Cherry, right, who pulled him unconscious
from an icy canal in February.
With his mother, Debra Taylor, at his side, he'll appear in the 14th
Children's Miracle Network Telethon to benefit 161 hospitals,
including the area's Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters,
which treated him for three weeks.
ET by CNB