Harris laughed, recalling how he had been bragging to his mum the week before about how he hadn\u2019t been sick for ages. <\/p>\n
Roberts said he went to A&E, where he was diagnosed with influenza and sent home. <\/p>\n
That night, Harris woke up to his throat being dangerously swollen. Roberts rushed him to Tauranga Hospital, and he was quickly admitted to ICU and then rushed to surgery for airway support. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf Taylor hadn\u2019t woken me that night, he would have died,\u201d Roberts said. <\/p>\n
Tests revealed he had invasive group A streptococcus and influenza, which further developed into sepsis, spreading into his chest. He was helicoptered, unconscious, to Waikato Hospital for specialist care. <\/p>\n
In New Zealand, sepsis kills more people than lung, breast, and bowel cancer combined, according to the Sepsis Trust. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were told he was the sickest patient in the hospital,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n
Taylor Harris and Kat Roberts in the midst of three weeks in the hospital<\/p>\n
\u201cI drove behind, praying he would still be alive when I arrived at Waikato.\u201d <\/p>\n
Emergency surgery followed to drain the infection. Harris\u2019 tight-knit family was told to prepare for the worst. <\/p>\n
Harris initially stabilised, but everybody\u2019s relief was short-lived. Within 24 hours of being moved from ICU to a ward, his condition regressed. He was rushed back into intensive care in a critical condition and was further diagnosed with severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome.<\/p>\n
His lungs were failing. <\/p>\n
Harris was coughing blood, turning purple and gasping for air.<\/p>\n
The family were told to say their goodbyes. <\/p>\n
Family and friends gather to say goodbye.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cried until I couldn\u2019t breathe; it was the worst moment of my life,\u201d Roberts said. <\/p>\n
Harris\u2019 girlfriend of four years, Bri McGrory, was also there. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was one of the scariest nights of my life, just full of unknowns,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEverything happened so suddenly and escalated all of a sudden.\u201d <\/p>\n
Against all odds, Harris stabilised. The following afternoon, he woke up, joking with his family and confused by the tears in everyone\u2019s eyes. <\/p>\n
Harris, who was in and out of consciousness, doesn\u2019t remember too much. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t understand how bad it had gotten,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that is so crazy to me is that everyone tells me how strong I was, but it was really Mum and Bri that went through the worst of it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Taylor Harris and Bri McGrory at a 21st a month after the hospital.<\/p>\n
However, his fight was far from over. After a hospital transfer back to Tauranga, his chest infection worsened. He made the trip back to Waikato for more surgeries, enduring weeks of antibiotics and fighting endless fevers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was something every day, either a fever, or my infection markers on my blood tests never came back right,\u201d Harris said, admitting that sepsis wrecked his body. <\/p>\n
Roberts said it was inspiring to see her son\u2019s positivity through such a brutal ordeal. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe came back from college at the best I have ever seen him, and now it\u2019s been taken away. A lot of kids his age would be in bed depressed about this outcome, but Taylor is using it as motivation to keep going,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Taylor Harris after five operations and 20kg of weight loss.<\/p>\n
Roberts is calling for others to be more aware of the signs of sepsis, which, according to Sepsis Trust NZ, include confusion, extreme shivering and breathlessness and muscle pain. <\/p>\n
Now back home, Taylor and Kat have put all their energy into recovery. Together, they are working on a business venture developing bone broth protein powder, which helps support gut health. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to find ways to stay positive in such a negative and angry situation,\u201d said Roberts. <\/p>\n
For Harris, the experience has completely shifted his outlook.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t take anything for granted,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was on top of the world, doing everything I\u2019d put my mind to, and it all came crashing down.\u201d <\/p>\n
If recovery goes well, Taylor will head back to America in January, at a new school and with a coach that he describes as \u201cperfect\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harris laughed, recalling how he had been bragging to his mum the week before about how he hadn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[25490,9092,33139,5837,19066,111,139,69,6644,33141,213,33140,1227,163],"class_list":["post-35605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-25490","tag-against","tag-basketballer","tag-battle","tag-harris","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-odds","tag-sepsis","tag-sports","tag-survives","tag-tauranga","tag-taylor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}