The girl who has stolen the hearts of White Countians

Braydyn Taylor

A parent’s worst nightmare is when a child is stricken with an illness that turns their world upside down. Last week, a Sparta couple, Mike and April Taylor, experienced this nightmare when their daughter, Braydyn, a member of the White County High School Warriorette basketball team, suffered a medical emergency.

Late in the evening of Feb. 8, 2022, Braydyn was airlifted to Vanderbilt Hospital, with the diagnosis of a brain tumor. On Feb. 11, surgeons removed the tumor.

Needless to say, the past several days have been a rollercoaster of emotions for the entire family. April Taylor has been posting on her Facebook page as much as possible so the community can keep updated on Braydyn’s condition. The following are excerpts from those posts.

February 11:

 “I figured I would write this here so everyone would be updated and no misinformation. Braydyn is out of surgery after an eight-hour surgery and is back into the ICU unit. Her father and I met with her doctor who described it as a very detailed and difficult surgery as to where the tumor was located. He felt that it was a successful surgery. We told him the amount of prayers that he was receiving today. He said he could feel those prayers when he was working on her. Shout our Lord and Savior’s name.

Next he has told us that they will do an MRI in the morning to make sure they got all of it. We will be also waiting for the pathology back. So I need my prayers warriors to make those two specific prayers. (1) The MRI in the morning shows that all of it was removed and (2) that ALL pathology comes back clear.

The doctor said that she went through a very intensive brain surgery and will need time, patience, and healing. The unit is calling her a little Rock Star. She has opened her eyes and moved all her arms and legs. She told then who she was, where she was at, and what year it was. Please keep the prayers coming!”

February 14:

         “It’s been a very rough afternoon and early night on Braydyn. She is experiencing pain and nausea, which they told us was to be expected with her intensive surgery. It is just hard to watch your child hurt. We were stepped down a level from ICU, which was good, but it has definitely made for a night that I will be sleeping in a chair right beside her bed with my hand on her. Please continue to pray for our girl.”

February 16:

“Good day, but rough day. Braydyn seems like she is finally getting   some sleep after a rough 48 hours. Pain management and nausea has been difficult to say the least, but hopefully we are headed the right way. Never thought I would find it so hard to get this girl to eat a chicken tender or a bite of cheese pizza. Braydyn wants to come home. She says she is ready to sleep in her bed and misses her family and friends. So, emotionally, it’s been a little rough, but she is so strong. I think we are close to making that happen.

Braydyn has met with all the therapists, so many therapists. She is doing outstanding on every level. The Lord has definitely been with her. The Lord has definitely been listening to prayers. I get so overwhelmed sometimes it’s hard for me to write. So that’s what I did last night instead of writing. I closed my eyes and let the prayers of others carry us.

The outpouring of our community and the communities surrounding/near us has been nothing we could ever imagined. I appreciate the tags and pictures I am receiving. I am on and off and not always spending a lot of time on social media, so thank you for sending me those. To all the texts and prayers we are receiving, we are using that as fuel. Some have come through just at the right moments - when we needed them the most.  The Lord is definitely at work in this room.

We have seen the pictures of the (basketball) game tonight, the games before, the prayer circles, the prayers coming from other teams, the baskets, the knock I got at our room door tonight from a young lady to hand me a card,  and a warm hug/inspiring words from a neighboring basketball community, which made me a little overwhelmed and shed many heartfelt tears.

I don’t want to mention any specific people because I would fear I would leave someone out, not that they would be hurt, but it would hurt me. You see, to be honest, basketball had dropped to the lowest of our concerns in the last week. Basketball was a sport my daughter grew up playing. She loves basketball. We love to watch her play. She loved to play it, and, as her parents, we drove her to wherever she needed to be to put the work in to get better at what she loved. Simple, right? Freshman year was hard, due to injuries, which now makes me shake my head. It was a sport that was minuscule to what we were facing.

What has been revealed to us was the connections she has made through this sport. Slowly, people that played a role in her life through this sport have sent us texts or pictures at just the perfect moments. The friendships that she has forged through this sport are irreplaceable. The life lessons - good and bad - she has learned from it. The community of basketball, I am thankful we can be a part of you. Thank you for the encouragement, support, thoughts, prayers. Please keep praying for our girl.”