‘I’d never have believed I would go on to play sport for my country’
REFEREEING A FOOTBALL GAME ULTIMATELY COST GARY TAYLOR HIS LEG. NOW WHEELCHAIR RUGBY HAS GIVEN HIM HIS LIFE BACK
When Gary Taylor hurt his left knee in the summer of 2008, it was the start of a long, arduous journey. He’d never have imagined that the unremarkable injury could cost him his leg.
And when it did, he certainly never pictured himself going on to earn caps playing wheelchair rugby for Wales.
“I was refereeing at a football tournament,” recalls the 54-year-old from Mynydd Isa, near Mold in north Wales. “It was a hot day and I was wearing studded boots rather than trainers. They jarred on the hard ground and damaged the cartilage in my knee.
“When it didn’t get better I was referred for keyhole cartilage repair – something quite straightforward that was meant to sort it easily, but problems just snowballed.”
Over the next couple of years Gary, who worked as a maintenance engineer at a glass factory, underwent 28 operations, including three knee replacements. “The consultants would say, ‘Hang on in there, we’ll get you better,’ but they never did.”
It was a difficult time for the father-of-three. “I couldn’t take it anymore,” says Gary. “My wife Sylvia says it was like living with a zombie because of all the painkillers I was taking.”
Despite his desperation to find a solution, Gary’s choice to have the leg amputated was, he says, “traumatic – the worst decision I’ve ever had to make.”
In March 2011, surgeons removed the leg. “I cried,” he admits. “Reality kicks in when you look down at the hospital bed and there’s no leg.”
Gary struggled to learn to use a prosthetic limb and relies on a wheelchair. “I didn’t leave the house for 12 months,” he says. “Then, the first time I went out, Sylvia was pushing me along and we bumped into a friend. They asked her ‘How is he doing?’ I was sitting right there. I’d lost my leg, not my mind.
“It was tough. Some of my friends stopped coming to see me. I felt I’d become an inconvenience.”
One evening in 2013, Gary saw a piece on the local news about the North Wales Crusaders Wheelchair Rugby League & Disability Sports Club. “They were looking for new players and volunteers. I’d never played rugby, but had coached and refereed football for years, so thought it might be something I could do.” “When I went along they let me try one of their special wheelchairs and it just clicked.” Funding from The National Lottery helped the team to buy 40 specialist sport wheelchairs, as well as PPE to allow them to train in lockdown. It’s just one of many good causes to benefit from the £30 million raised every week* by National Lottery players.
I’ve played at the Four Nations and the 2017 World Cup. It’s just fantastic, and has opened so many doors
ALL WELCOME
“We have players aged from five to 67; boys, girls, able-bodied, double ampu tees and players with epilepsy and MS,” says Gary, who recently qualified as a level 1 rugby coach.
“It meant I could meet people in the same situation and gave me a sense of purpose. I’m so grateful to the Crusaders’ head coach Steve Jones for his help.”
In 2015 Gary was thrilled to be selected to play for Wales in the European Championships. “When I was sitting at home alone after the amputation, I would never, ever have believed I would go on to represent my country,” he says with pride. “Since then I’ve played at the Four Nations, the World Cup in 2017 and we’ve won four Celtic Cups as a team. It’s just fantastic, and has opened so many doors.”