Sophia Taylor is back running around her yard in Crofton and acting just like any other normal three-year-old less than a month after suffering serious injuries during a fall at Ladysmith’s Transfer Beach Park.
Sophia is mostly oblivious to what’s happened to her during an interview I conducted with her and mom Selina at their Crofton home Thursday. They only returned home last Friday from a three-week stay at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver where the prognosis for Sophia at first didn’t look good.
I asked her about the incident and the hospital, but like any young child she wanted to talk about other things once she got to know me.
A deer walking through the yard provides a distraction for an active young mind.
“I want to pet it,” said Sophia.
Sophia and brother Elija, 4 1/2, are curious about my camera and notebook. Sophia’s concentration on the interview ends at that point and Selina takes over.
She has two other children, Gabriel, 7 1/2, and Zoee, 6, who are both in school at the time.
It’s a busy family and Selina is relieved the scare from the incident did not result in any permanent brain damage for Sophia after she fell 20 feet onto concrete.
“The brain is amazing,” said Selina.
“For her, she still has some speech that needs to be worked on in speech therapy. Her balance has come back for the most part.”
Selina has noticed some frustration on Sophia’s part with her speech.
“She will think about what she wants to say and sometimes it won’t come out,” Selina said.
There is no need to return to BC Children’s Hospital for a follow-up, but there will be some therapy and a further assessment on her brain injury to be done in April.
But other than that, things worked out far better than could have been expected, with subtle differences.
“She’s a lot more emotional than she was before,” observed Selina.
“I’m still kind of in shock over the whole thing. I’ve been in the hospital for three weeks with her. The first week was the worst. It’s so nice to be home and in our usual routine.”
After the interview heads, I’m heading toward Chemainus and it hits me I should have had a picture taken of myself with Sophia. One day she’ll need a reminder of her first newspaper interview and I wanted to record it as being among the most memorable and heartwarming stories I’ve done because of her remarkable recovery.
When I return to the Taylor house later, Sophia immediately recognizes me and gives me a big hug. It’s an uplifting moment amid some of the troubling times we’ve been experiencing.
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Sophia Taylor shows the Courier’s Don Bodger her unicorn. (Photo by Selina Taylor)
