Derrick Taylor is not homeless and never has been, but he got an idea of what it’s like to be alone and helpless on the street after a barrage of unfortunate incidents took him from his home in Birmingham, Alabama, to a hospital in Pensacola.
The 61-year-old man says the experience opened his eyes to a side of life he hasn’t seen before and doesn’t want to see again.
It started Sunday, August 4, when Taylor went to his parents’ hometown of Thomasville, Alabama, which is about an hour and a half north of Mobile, to take care of family business. Both of his parents have passed and while in Thomasville, Taylor decided to pay a visit to his father’s grave. While walking to the church cemetery, Taylor collapsed from a stroke.
“That’s where they found me, on the side of the road by the church. It was so hot, and I was walking. You see, I had a little blood clot on my brain. Next thing I know, somebody’s doing this on my chest real hard,” Taylor said touching his chest with a closed fist. “I wake up and I’m on top of the clouds. I thought, ‘Oh, God, am I dead?’ I’m serious. I’ve never been in a helicopter. I just closed my eyes really quick because I was riding on top of the clouds, and I thought I was dead.”