Patients Celebrated as Heroes Among Us
July 08, 2010
Shriners Hospitals for Children® patient Taylor Long, 19, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, made a surprise appearance at the 136th Imperial Council Session – the Shriners’ annual international convention – in Toronto on July 7. Danny Happy, 13, of Cincinnati, Ohio, provided a video message to the crowd of several thousand Shriners.
Danny and Taylor are featured in the Shriners Hospitals for Children® patient success video “Heroes Among Us,” which premiered at the event. Immediately following the video, Taylor sang for the audience.
The program was an opportunity for the kids to thank the Shriners for the pediatric specialty care they receive at Shriners Hospitals for Children®. The expertise and support provided by the health care system has given them the strength and skills needed to make their dreams a reality.
Taylor Long
Taylor was born with bilateral fibular hemimelia, which means he is missing the calf bones in his legs. Doctors initially told Taylor’s mother, Karen, that he would probably never walk. Luckily, a friend of Taylor’s grandfather, a Shriner named Bryce Gibson, recommended Shriners Hospitals for Children® — Canada.
Taylor became a patient when he was just one month old; his family and doctors decided the best treatment was to amputate his feet and have him use prosthetics to walk. He was provided extensive physical therapy as a young child to help him learn to walk and balance.
Despite multiple surgeries to correct the growth of his legs, Taylor enjoyed an active childhood. The rehabilitation services department at Shriners Hospitals for Children® — Canada played a central role in supporting his interests, designing special prosthetics for each activity he pursued. He learned to swim with the help of special swimming legs that drain water and help him walk on sand. When he began riding horses at age 9, they made him prosthetic legs especially for horseback riding. In 2007, Taylor competed with riders from around the world at the Lendon Gray International Dressage Festival.
The confidence Taylor gained from these experiences has helped him pursue his greatest passions, drama and singing. He is currently working toward a bachelor’s degree in voice and drama at Dalhousie University in Halifax and is studying opera.
Danny Happy
When a plane crashed into Danny Happy’s Sanford, Fla., home in 2007, his life was changed forever. He sustained second- and third degree burns over 95 percent of his body and tragically, his four-year-old sister Gabriela was killed in the horrific accident. Only hours after the crash, Danny was airlifted from a local hospital to Shriners Hospitals for Children® — Cincinnati. The burns on his body were so extensive he was not expected to survive.
During the next seven months, which he spent in the hospital, he underwent multiple surgeries and grueling physical therapy. His medical team was pleased to see tremendous progress as time went by, and was thrilled when he became well enough to become an outpatient.
Danny and his mother relocated to Ohio so he could continue his treatment at Shriners Hospitals for Children® — Cincinnati. When he was ready to return to school, the hospital’s school re-entry program eased the transition, providing his classmates with lessons on empathy and acceptance. Danny, who is extremely outgoing, has made friends easily and is enjoying life as a student. With the help of his teachers and fellow classmates, he started a program to collect aluminum can tabs to benefit the hospital that saved his life.
At Shriners Hospitals for Children®, we are proud to have heroes like Taylor and Danny among us every day. The stories of Taylor and Danny, which are representative of the thousands of children Shriners Hospitals for Children® help every year, are shared in detail in “Heroes Among Us.”