Sholto Taylor reflects on the night he became a C6/7 complete tetraplegic at the age of 19. “I was in that classic…18 to 25 male age group where we’re all bulletproof,” he shares. After a night of drinking with friends, Sholto got in the passenger seat of a car, and minutes later his life was forever changed when that car slammed into a tree.
Sholto recalls the initial period weeks following his injury. “I spent 8 weeks in traction,” he says.
Due to advancements in post-spinal cord injury treatments, today’s injured individuals are getting into wheelchairs much more quickly. “They’re now wheeling around…like a week and a half after their accident,” Sholto says. And because of this, he recognizes the difficulty patients often have with accepting their injuries.
The value of mentorship after a spinal cord injury
Sholto is now a mentor at the Burwood Spinal Unit in New Zealand where he works with newly injured people. He brings a “practical aspect” to patients’ lives in many ways. He strives to help individuals re-learn everyday-type tasks so they can achieve a level of independence.
“One of my strongest memories of first going home was making myself a sandwich, and by the time I’d finished, I was absolutely exhausted.”
Sholto also mentors patients in the importance of friendships and communication post-injury. “You can have a really close circle of friends prior to your accident, and they do remain intact afterwards, ” he shares. But he knows that sitting there and waiting for your friends to come visit you doesn’t always work out. So he encourages individuals to try activities like wheelchair sports. “You’re constantly learning new things because you’re meeting new people who are very similar to you,” Sholto says.
Building new relationships post-injury is an important step in the healing process. Sholto leads by example, and is helping people in a big way to get their lives back after a spinal cord injury.