After collapsing from a stroke, an Alabama man wound up in Pensacola with no way home

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.”

Taylor was not on his way to meet his maker. To his surprise, he was in an air ambulance on his way to Ascension Sacred Heart in Pensacola. He was discharged after about a week but getting back home proved to be almost as traumatic as his stroke.

The stroke left him partially paralyzed on the right side of his body. He’s unable to use his arm, and his leg and foot are stuck at an awkward angle that makes walking difficult. On top of those injuries, Taylor was already on disability because of back issues, and he has health problems with his lungs.

“My breathing is bad,” Taylor said. “I can't stand up long. I can't walk very far. When I'm eating, I have to take a break and catch my breath, so I still got a lot of medical issues that I need to get taken care of, but I’ve got insurance.”

What he didn’t have was a way to get back home. Taylor said he was discharged from the hospital with a bus pass to take him to a local homeless shelter, although he is not homeless. He has an apartment in Alabama, but he lives alone and doesn’t have any close, living relatives. He says he spent another week at the shelter looking for a way back to Alabama.

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“I almost passed out day before yesterday,” Taylor said. “They put you out during the day on Saturday and Sunday. I was laying on the sidewalk. This guy, he saw me. I was in trouble. He poured some water in my face, on my head, and cooled me off. I thought I was going to have to go back in the hospital. The sun was beating me down. I was so bad, I got covered in ants, and I couldn't even roll out of them. I ain't never experienced anything like this and it was hard for me to deal with because I ain't never been in a homeless situation because I’ve got a home. I’ve always had a home.”

The shelter put Taylor in touch with Project Reconnect , the Escambia County funded program to provide people who are homeless or down-on-their-luck with a way to get back home or some place where they have support. He got a ride to Ministry Village at Olive, which manages the program, and staff there arranged for him to take a bus back to Birmingham on Tuesday morning.

“I still don't see why they brought me away to Florida,” Taylor said. “I know (the University of Alabama at Birmingham) has a launch pad for helicopters. I would have been at home. What worries me the most is I've been gone almost two weeks, and people pay attention, and my neighborhood is not all that good, but I stay to myself. I don't want nobody to break in there and steal my things. It's been rough on me.”

Taylor said he is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to return home. He says staying at the shelter and feeling helpless exposed him to what life is like for people who are homeless and it’s not a life he wants for himself.

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Ministry Village at Olive Executive Director Drayton Smith agreed Taylor’s experience was tough, but pointed out many people end up homeless because they experience a series of unfortunate events that they didn’t expect and don’t have the resources to get out of a bad situation.

“He could have very easily wound up with no way to get back home, and he would have been homeless here in Pensacola,” Smith said. “That happens time after time after time. We see people coming in all the time that come down here because of promises and things, and they get here, and it's not working out, and they become homeless because they don't have money, they don't have support. Then the next thing they know, they're homeless with never any intention of being homeless.”

Helping people like Taylor is why Escambia County and other advocates support Project Reconnect.

“I appreciate what y'all are doing for me,” Taylor told the staff at Ministry Village. “It's the only good thing that's happened since through this whole ordeal. I don't want to live here. I want to go home. I appreciate everything.”

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: After collapsing from a stroke, an Alabama man wound up in Pensacola with no way home