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STRENGTH Crimson Tide walk-on relies on faith to see him through cancer diagnosis, family tragedy
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weird craving for chocolate pudding.” After his release from the hospital, Morton went to his family’s home in Centreville to continue his recover y. Though the player’s father, Terry Morton, said he and his wife were afraid for their son’s health, he said it was easier for them to rely on their faith through Taylor’s situation because of what they went through when they lost their middle son, Trent, in a fourwheeling accident in 2007. Trent and Taylor, only 19 months apart, were naturally competitive and nearly inseparable. But on that particular Sunday, Trent went fishing with a friend after church, while Taylor stayed at home. Trent and his friend rode four-wheelers to a pond near Alabama Highway 219 and stayed until dusk, when they decided to head back home. It was nearly nightfall, and when Trent was crossing the highway he was struck by a car and killed instantly. “What I remember about that day though is my dad coming in, tears in his eyes, and just telling us the news,” Taylor said in a 2009 interview with The Tuscaloosa News. “My mind, my world just sort of ... I felt like nothing after that. I didn’t know what to think, what to do. I felt sick at my stomach.” In Trent’s pocket that day was a card with the words “Never, never quit” written on it and the Bible verse Philippians 3:14, which reads: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Taylor now has that verse and verse 13 tattooed on his arm as a reminder of the brother he lost. The boys’ father said that Trent’s death showed the family how to rely on their faith through times of hardship, so they were better prepared when Taylor received his diagnosis. “When we heard the news about ( Taylor’s cancer),” Terry Morton said, “it was
Staff Writer
People have different reactions when they get the news. Some scream or cry. Others shut down out of fear. Most people panic. But when Taylor Morton, a 21-year-old football player at the University of Alabama from Centreville, heard those three dreaded words, “You’ve got cancer,” he felt a peace beyond all understanding. “I’ve been in situations in my life before where I knew that God was in control. I mean, it was still a little nerve-racking to find that news out, but I had a peace in my heart about it because of just knowing that God was in control of everything in my life,” he said. On June 17, Morton went to the emergency room with intense abdominal pain and was diagnosed with appendicitis. Hours after he arrived, doctors performed an emergency appendectomy. It wasn’t until he returned for a routine postoperative exam that he learned his appendicitis was caused by a slow-growing cancerous tumor and that the disease had begun to burst through the wall of the organ and into his colon. “It was just a follow-up appointment,” he said. “ We weren’t expecting anything.” A week later, Morton met with an oncologist who said that most of the cancer had been removed with the appendix, but that the doctor believed the disease could have already spread to Morton’s intestines. After getting a second opinion from doctors in Birmingham, Morton decided on aggressive surgery to remove part of his colon and his lymph nodes. After the procedure, the 186-pound walk-on safety lost 25 pounds in about six days as he remained in the hospital, bed-ridden and unable to keep down any substantial food. “Well, I did eat chocolate pudding,” he said, laughing. “That’s the only thing I could eat in the hospital. I had a
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Taylor Morton, a walk-on defensive back for the Crimson Tide and Christian motivational speaker, talks to students at the Tuscaloosa First Assembly of God on Sunday, Aug. 18. Morton, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, lost his brother in a four-wheeler accident in 2007. He said a strong faith in God has helped him deal with these lifealtering circumstances.
scary. We thought, ‘ W hat nex t ? ’ T hose t h i ngs go through your mind as a father or a mother. I know we did a lot of praying. It gave us a sense of peace. We put it in God’s hands, and it was His will that Taylor’s OK.” Mike Battles, Taylor’s football coach at Bibb County High School, said that when he heard of his former player’s diagnosis he knew that it would be a tough road to recovery, but that Taylor would meet this challenge like he did every other: head-on. “I never doubted he would beat it,” said Battles, who now coaches at Tallassee High School. “If there’s ever been an individual that could handle, emotionally and mentally, that kind of news, it’s Taylor Morton.”
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Battles said he knew the Morton family well and that he watched Taylor cope with his brother’s death and use that experience to motivate him on and off the football field. He said he knew that Taylor’s faith and optimism would carr y him back to health. “He’ll use this as an example of his faith,” he said. “He’ll take a bad moment or a bad thing and turn it into a positive, into something that can affect other people.” Taylor said that his cancer was “nothing compared to what I went through when my brother died,” and that working through that loss enabled him to have a positive outlook through his fight with the disease. “ That experience taught
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me that no matter how bad or ugly it got, God has something good in store,” he said. “When my brother was killed, I realized that life is a vapor. You have to do as much as you can.” His father agreed that Trent’s death brought the family closer and that it has given Taylor the strength to remain optimistic through his cancer diagnosis and grueling recovery. “ We ’ ve a l r e a d y b e e n through a lot. Taylor went through that situation with his brother and that made his faith stronger,” the father said. “It makes us appreciate the simple things we are given. Taylor has a really good outlook on things. He has a strong faith and a strong desire to be what God wants him
to be. I know his focus is on what’s good and right.” Taylor said that his brother’s death inspired him to organize a Christian youth conference, which started in 2011 and has grown into Converge Ministries, a nonprofit organization. In addition to the annual event, which features concerts and speakers and has attracted nearly 4,000 people, Taylor travels to churches across the Southeast to share his testimony. About a week after his surgery, he spoke during two Sunday services at a church in Tallassee, almost two hours from where he was recovering. “I don’t want to miss an opportunity to share,” he said. “It’s a blessing that (the appendicitis) happened, or I SEE MORTON | 6G
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