John Taylor served 17 years as a platoon sergeant in the United States Army.  He survived tours in the Gulf War, as well as several other combat assignments and was looking forward to retiring from the military and going back to school.  So in the fall of 2000 when, during a routine eye exam, John was told he had a rare inflammatory disease called sarcoidosis that could leave him blind in six months, he was shocked.  “I thought to myself, ‘I have a plan. I have a family. I’m too young, ’” he recalls.

An avid runner, who doesn’t drink or smoke and watches his diet, John wasn’t buying into the diagnosis.  But he soon found that he could not ignore the swollen lymph nodes in his chest and neck; and following an intense, week-long headache that left him bedridden, he went to be evaluated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.  “The last thing I remember is standing up to hand over my I.D. card at the hospital and I just passed out,” says John. 

He awoke three months later, just a few days before Christmas, unable to see anything more than hazy white all around.  In addition to sarcoidosis, John had developed cryptococcal meningitis while comatose, which had affected his brain.  Thinking he was over the worst of it, John was released and sent home for Christmas, only to return to the hospital within a few days, having lost all of his ability to control motor skills.  And within a week, he was med-evacuated to a special rehabilitation facility in Tampa, Florida where he would spend another three months before moving to Augusta, Georgia as he continued therapy to regain control of his mind body.

As John battled the disease, his wife, Angela, made regular trips to each of the hospitals and rehabilitation facilities - all while working, going to school, and caring for their three young children.  “Funny thing is by the time I got to Tampa, I was incoherent, so I could hear her, but I couldn’t respond – and that really hurt because I couldn’t tell her: ‘I know you’re here, and I’m here, too.’ But I never had a pity party because I have a family, and my wife is very strong,” he recalls. 

John began to regain coherency just before Memorial Day – more than half a year since the onset of his illness.  By that time, it was as though God was telling him enough was enough. “It felt like someone just pulled me up by the back of my pajamas, because I couldn’t move - I just didn’t have the strength. So I just sat up on the edge of the bed one day and had all of these wires and tubes coming out of me and she (his nurse) looked at me and just shot out of the room. I just sat up.” 

By late summer, John was strong enough to return home, where he contacted Savannah Association for the Blind (SAB), a United Way supported non-profit organization that helps blind and visually-impaired people become independent through a range of rehabilitation services.  “I knew about it (SAB) before because my Mom used to be a secretary for the Director there back in the 70’s,” he says.  And so began his training – from mobility to computer skills, SAB helped him find his way.  “I had taught myself some things already, so they were able to tailor my training to focus on the things I needed – like computer training, reading Braille, mobility training – they issued a cane so I could learn how to get around.”

Nine years later, John has come full circle.  He is a graduate from Savannah Association for the Blind, a soon-to-be graduate from Savannah State University with a degree in Business Administration, and is back on track with plans for his post-military career.   A leader in his military life and a survivor in his civilian life, John’s experiences have given him the strength, discipline, and know-how to help others.  Whether as a trainer and consultant at SAB, an advocate for students with disabilities at Savannah State, or in his future career endeavors to assist the disabled, as his military brethren would put it, John’s ordeal simply presented him with a target of opportunity.  And he has seized it.

For more information about Savannah Association for the Blind, call 912.236.4473.

United Way of the Coastal Empire is a proud funder of this program.  For information about how you can support programs such as this call 912.651.7700, and thank you for helping your community to LIVE UNITED.