Lifesaver Dr Taylor worth every penny

I FEEL moved to write following the article in today’s paper (News, May 14) about Dr Robert Taylor and his payment for merit.

I feel it is essential to bring some balance to this coverage. In medicine, among the sorrow and bereavement, there is life and hope. Dr Bob has given my cousin, Phoebe Lyle, both.

Phoebe was just three years old when she was critically injured in a hit-andrun in Spain and returned to the paediatric intensive care unit in a coma.

Her odds of survival were low, but the love and commitment shown to our family by Dr Bob and his team has given Phoebe a life that we thought she could never have.

Once she stabilised and we could see the extent of her injuries, our aim was to have her live the fullest life possible.

No other child in the world had ever left hospital with such injuries at that time (2001), and Dr Bob and his team worked tirelessly to make that possible. The work that he did enabled other ventilator-dependent children to return home.

Phoebe has long surpassed our wildest expectations, and I fully expect to see her in your chair one day as she is now studying journalism at Belfast Met.

In relation to his remuneration, we believe Dr Bob is worth every penny.

RACHELLYLE Belfast