Taylor’s Trauma and Triumph

On Monday January 6th this year, Pinnacle High School (PHS) freshman basketball player Taylor Edmonds experienced a traumatizing health event. After school that day, Edmonds went home with an extreme headache. After a couple of hours, she started coughing up blood, so she was quickly rushed to the emergency room and intubated for a brain bleed. Shortly after, she was transported by helicopter to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She remained in the hospital for over a month. 

During that month, some of her best friends visited her and checked up on her recovery. Communicating in the hospital provided difficult because there was a screen dividing them, which allowed Taylor to hear them, but prohibited her friends from hearing Taylor.

“We were able to communicate with her by writing on whiteboards, ” freshman Bri Smith said.  

A couple of weeks after the visit with her friends, Edmonds’ doctors cleared her to return home. During that difficult time, her parents set up a GoFundMe (GFM) link for people to donate to help cover the hospital bills. Many friends, teachers, teammates and family members donated to help out the Edmonds family. The Edmonds family’s church, Christ Church of the Valley (CCV), offered many prayers for Edmonds and hosted prayer circles right outside of the hospital while she was staying there. 

When Edmonds came home, she had some visitors that updated her on what she missed around school and how everyone missed her so much during her absence.

 “Some of my friends and I went to visit Taylor when she got home, and we updated her on new things and saw she was doing a lot better, which was great news,” said freshman Ava Crawford.

Suffering from any health emergency like what Edmonds suffered through can be frightening, but Edmonds remained strong and trusted in those who were taking care of her and treating her.

“During my recovery, I had to trust the process and be patient with myself and the doctors,” Edmonds said. “I continue to stay strong in rehab and work so hard so that I can get back to my normal life.”

With the help of family and friends always by her side, and remaining strong in her faith, Edmonds is now doing a lot better. She joined everyone back at school in February, and continued to recover and regains her strength. Edmonds even started playing basketball again, helping her to finally feel like herself again after such a harrowing experience.